


Not Just A Business Partner.

by orphan_account



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: F/F, Smut, relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:56:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 30,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4170303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not that Piper doesn't care for Alex, but she just can't bare to be around her right now. Whilst she's having a psychotic breakdown, her one escape is the lips of Stella Carlin. A prison inmate whom she hasn't noticed until recently. The two of them become business partners, but in time, the relationship becomes so much more than that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Follow my Tumblr! - It's 'feelmoreinfinite'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Gerard Way - "Drugstore Perfume".

It wasn’t until her latest job assignment that Piper noticed the attractive woman sitting across from her with a graceful yet cheeky smile across her lips. She had thought she’d remembered practically every face in this hell hole, however, this thought was pushed aside when presented with this face. She would have definitely remembered such beauty.  
She caught this unnamed woman staring at her at every opportunity. What did she want? Better yet, who was she? She certainly wasn’t a new inmate, judging by the colour of her uniform, but she simply cannot have been here for the entirety of Piper’s sentence.  
Throughout the time they shared together, they simply exchanged glances, and smiled at each other. That was until this unnamed woman decided to bite the bullet, and speak to Piper.  
The worktime seemed to go much quicker after that.  
As Piper went back to her bunk, she couldn’t help but continue to smile. This woman had said that her legs were up to her neck. Such a strange observation for one whom was sitting down. Had she noticed Piper before? Piper felt almost bad for not knowing who she was.  
She had also said that she only identified as a woman because her choices were limited. Why was Piper turned on by that? She couldn't understand it, she simply was. She admired it almost, and made a note in her head that she would bring that back into topic someday with her. If she got to speak to her again. She had hoped so. Her thoughts were interrupted by a paranoid Alex, claiming that she was being watched. And it didn’t take long for things to snap back to reality again. Regular prison reality.  
“For the love of Christ, Alex, you’re not being followed, you’re not being watched, no one’s going to come and kill you except me if you don’t quiet down.”  
Alex glared at her and narrowed her eyebrows.  
“How did making panties go?” Alex changed the conversation.  
“It was ok, I’ve been thinking about taking the extra fabric and making panties on the side, making a business, I hear people genuinely like to sniff women’s underwear, and I thought we could sell them on the outside.”  
Piper had overheard this today. That people sniff women’s underwear and the underwear of female inmates was even more in demand. She decided however, to leave out the detail that she met an extremely attractive woman today. That wouldn’t particularly go down well with Alex.  
“That’s crazy…I love it.” Alex smiled.  
And for the first time, Piper felt guilty for having eyes for someone else.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Piper couldn’t lie to herself, she was excited for the time when she would see this girl again, and when the time came round when she continued making panties, she could hardly contain her smile.  
This time was different, however, as the woman decided to sit next to her. She wasn’t prepared for this, but she decided to play it cool regardless, and invite conversation.  
“You know, you could make an extra pair of pants out of that piece of fabric, and keep them for yourself.” Dammit, Piper thought to herself. A simple hello would have sufficed.  
The woman looked at her, confused. Piper was tempted to stand up and move away at first, until the woman’s lips curved into a slight smile.  
“I…I don’t want them?”  
In for a penny, in for a pound as they say. Piper took things to the next level.  
“You could wear them until they're really dirty and then give them to me.”  
Idiot! Piper thought. Maybe she should have explained herself before saying such a thing. Maybe she wanted to be incredibly forward. This was prison after all. People were nothing but forward. She couldn’t lie to herself though; it wasn’t just her panty business she was thinking of. She rather liked the idea of talking to this woman about her used panties regardless of this new venture.  
The conversation began to get awkward, and the conversation was quickly switched, which in turn, led to complete silence for the duration of the time they spent together.  
Maybe bringing up used panties to a girl you barely know wasn’t the best pick up line.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
As Piper stood in the queue to get her meal, she couldn’t help but feel completely and utterly ridiculous. She barely knew this girl, yet she didn’t want to get to know her. She wanted to know her right away. Skip the hellos, get straight to the connection. It was silly of her to think that this was nothing more than a dream and reality was a lot harsher.  
Her thoughts were interrupted as she was pushed out of the way so some rude asshat could get their food before her. Hadn’t they heard of queuing?  
She turned to see the beautiful woman standing before her. She was a queue pusher? That said it all.  
“Excuse me but I was next.”  
“Are you?” The woman smirked. She moved her hands down to her khaki’s and revealed the panties from the workshop earlier that day, and winked.  
Piper thought she was going to melt there and then. Was this woman flirting, or simply doing her a favour? Or both? Whatever, it didn’t matter, she had a girlfriend. She cared about Alex, she truly did, but she was driving her up the wall recently and she struggled to spend time with her on a frequent basis. In simple terms, she was annoying. Incredibly so, and getting to go to work was like having a break from it all, even if that break was simply making panties with a hot Australian girl she knew absolutely nothing about.  
The panty business was going well. Very well in fact. Piper had recruited 16 girls so far, and all it took were some Ramen noodle flavour packets to do so. This business was keeping her busy, amongst other things. Beautiful things with Australian accents and a panty dropping smile.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
When she approached her the next day, she learnt that this goddess among women was in fact named Stella. Stella Carlin. Piper had never known anyone called Stella before, but in future she knew she would only associate this name with good things.  
Earlier that day, Stella had asked Piper if Alex was her girlfriend. Piper couldn't lie, so she told her the truth. It pleased Piper that she would ask such a question. It didn't seem like idle chit chat to her, but rather a inquiry as to whether Stella could make a move or not. Maybe she was overthinking things. Stella worked out how much money Piper was earning, which turned out to be a rather hefty sum. Though she couldn’t help but care little about the money she was earning and more so about the girl who was helping her.  
Together, they sat down on Stella’s bed, and discussed how well the business was going. Each time she spoke, Piper couldn’t help but stare at this girls lips, wishing they were connected with hers. They looked so soft, and kissable, but did they want to be kissed? More importantly, did they want to be kissed by her? Piper realized she hadn’t really being paying attention to the words that were coming out of those lips, and it was probably rude to not reply.  
“It’s kinda like when someone’s into you, y’know? You just know.” Stella said.  
“Sometimes, you don’t really know, you can't be sure sure, you just have the expectation that someone is going to break the suspense.” Piper hinted. Her breathing suddenly heavier, her gaze stuck on Stella's lips.  
As if on cue, Stella leaned in for a kiss.  
It was soft, and gentle, much softer than she had anticipated. When she pictured kissing this girl, she pictured grabbing onto her face with all of her fingers, ruffling her hair, touching her tattooed skin.  
“Did that, clear things up?” Stella asked.  
“As a matter of fact, it just made things a hell of a lot more confusing.” Piper smiled, despite the guilt welling up in the back of her throat of kissing this other girl that wasn’t Alex. However, in this moment, she couldn’t even bring herself to care.  
Stella moved in for another kiss.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whist writing: Dayshell - "Useless."

Stella lay in her bunk, alone, her mind swarming with what happened that day. The world was asleep, well, every inmate was at least, and she wondered to herself if Piper was asleep too. Or was she thinking about the kiss too?  
She seemed like the type to worry about each and every detail. Stella wasn't like that though. A kiss was a kiss. If you like someone, you should show them. She did that. She didn't regret it. Though she'd probably regret it tomorrow when Piper wanted to 'talk about her feelings'.  
Stella didn't have feelings, at least not yet. She thought Piper was appealing, and she was drawn to her right away, but that doesn't mean she wanted to marry the girl, she just wanted a little fun among other hidden agendas. Of course it would be with someone who already had a girlfriend. She was always doing that. She told herself it was because the best people were already claimed, why? Because they were the best people of course. And if you wanted to claim them for yourself, well, you just had to take a leap of faith.  
It didn't seem like Piper was going to leave her girlfriend anytime soon though. She may have sounded paranoid and delusional, but Piper didn't seem like a dumper, more of a dumpee, of sorts. If this was going to continue, it would have to be secretive.  
But maybe it didn't though, maybe if she just made a move publicly, Alex would get angry and dump Piper, and then everything would be fine.  
Would it though? Was it wrong to mess with someone's relationship? Probably.  
She lay in her bunk, alone, her mind swarming, and managed to slowly drift off to sleep.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next morning, Stella found Piper on a bench, discussing business. There seemed to be a dispute, so she decided to chime in.  
"You won't want to turn us in, because we're paying you."  
It didn't take much effort for three other girls to agree to the deal, three new panty girls in the bag so to speak. She didn't know the girls personally, though she got the vibe that Piper did. Stella hadn't made much effort with friends, not until she found herself working with Piper, at least.  
Stella bit the bullet, like she always did, and spoke first.  
"I'm guessing you want to talk about what happened yesterday, and about how you're so sorry it happened and how guilty you feel about cheating on your girlfriend." She smiled as she spoke. Stella never took anything seriously. Not unless she had to.  
"Actually no. I decided to not dwell on things, what happens, happens, there's no use talking about it."  
"Well well." Stella raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed."  
She looked at Pipers lips, so kissable, she thought. She remembered last night, how she thought about making a move in a public place. Was it a good idea, or simply tired thinking to push aside?  
She decided the former, and whilst moving the hair out of Piper's face, she leaned in for a kiss.  
She was shocked to find her advances rejected, but that didn't stop her from putting her arm around Piper's neck. It remained there and was not pushed away. That was something, she told herself. She could get used to this, she thought.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next time she saw Piper, she was sitting on her bed. She sat down beside her, hoping for a kiss, but got something else instead. Piper wanted to know about her past. According to her, it was so she would no longer be interested anymore.  
"What a raw deal for me." Stella said, sarcastically, smiling.  
She told her about her family, about how she was an only child, and how they moved here to Philadelphia. It was soothing to say the least, for someone in here to finally know a little about her. At first, Stella only planned to kiss this girl, frequently, hoping she could take things further, but as it turns out, as she sat here next to her, she couldn't help but want to know more about Piper, too.  
Something she wouldn't get today, she thought, as Alex, the infamous girlfriend walked in and decided to put a halt on things.  
She wasn't fully paying attention, she didn't care to talk to this girl. It wasn't her she was interested in, after all.  
Though her ears pricked up when she heard the words 'Justin Bieber'. Why were people always calling her that? Christ.  
If this woman was trying to insult her, she was doing a pretty awful job at it. She didn't feel threatened by her at all. If anything, she wanted Piper more, because it meant that this bitch wouldn't have her anymore, and that gave her almost as much satisfaction as the kiss they shared. Almost.  
Alex stormed out, and Stella let out a sigh of relief. What a loose chain, she thought.  
"I would have cut her loose ages ago. Don't know how you deal with that." Stella chimed in.  
Piper checked the coast was clear, peering out of her cube, left, then right. At first, Stella was confused. What was she planning? It was then that she realized.  
Piper grabbed Stella's face, and kissed her with passion in her lungs and fire in her heart. Clearly Piper's attempt at being less interested didn't work very well.


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Don Broco - "You Wanna Know"

The next morning, Piper laid in her bunk, dreading the next moment that she would see Alex again. Hell, dreading the next moment that she would see Stella again. Things were more confusing in here than they had ever been, and she'd once attempted to murder an angry Christmas angel whom she now considered herself acquaintances with.  
Alex was likely to shout at her, or speak of how someone had been sent to kill her. Stella was likely to make another move, anything to make Alex jealous. People were so crafty, she thought. Why can't anyone have good intentions in this place? Well, I guess she answered that question for herself. It was prison, after all, and there were always hidden agendas. Part of her wanted to make things right with Alex, smooth things over, she was in a difficult place right now, and she needed the support, the comfort. Another part of her wanted to grab Stella, throw her against the wall, and taste every last inch of her.  
She couldn't do both, she knew that. And seeing as she had a duty to Alex, as her girlfriend, she would ignore Stella. It was the right thing to do. Was it what she wanted to do though? It didn't matter. She'd play it like a child, and no longer speak to her. If she could resist.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
She almost regretted her decision when greeted by Alex, who insisted that she no longer wanted to be a part of the panty business. According to her, it was becoming more and more serious as time progressed, when it should have been a mere hobby.  
Piper almost found this laughable. She was making a large amount of money per week, she was actually a somebody around the prison. Before, she would have preferred to stay invisible, have no one know her name, just do her time, and get out, but things change. Was that what Stella did? Stayed invisible? Could that be why Piper had never seen her before the other week?  
She pushed the thoughts aside, she was no longer supposed to be thinking about Stella. Cheeky, sexy yet adorable Stella. There go those thoughts again. This was going to be harder than she thought.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Piper didn't know how long it had been since she spoke to Stella. Not long no doubt. But she was already struggling. Once she got to know her she felt safe in her company. Like she wasn't in a prison with murderers and rapists. For the first time in a while she didn't completely hate being here, because this other girl was sharing it with her. She would have thought that person was Alex once upon a time, and she hated herself for thinking it. But that just wasn't the case anymore. And it might never be again.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
There was that smile again, that cheeky smile. God, she was so hot.  
"Are you avoiding me?" She grinned. Dammit, she knew. How did she know?  
"Yes." Piper put it simply.  
"Care to elaborate?" Stella smiled again. God she was hot.  
"Listen, you know I have a girlfriend. I can't do this." Piper had to be honest, for once, she would be loyal to Alex.  
"You have...an Alex." Stella joked.  
Stella would never take Piper's relationship seriously, it seemed. I guess she couldn't blame her. Even Piper considered her relationship to Alex a joke. How did it even begin last time anyway? All they ever did was have violent hate sex that somehow led to other things. It wasn't a normal relationship by any means. However strange it may be though, it was hers, and she had to treat it with respect.  
As if Stella knew that Piper had zoned off into thought, she pulled a bag out of her pants, revealing panties inside it.  
"I did a really good job." Stella stated, as she walked away.  
Piper breathed a heavy sigh, and continued walking.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Piper sat in her bunk, like she did that morning, deep in thought. She couldn't ignore this woman. She realized that now. They were in prison for Gods sake. There was only so many places she could hide. It was silly to believe that was an option.  
To the left of her were Stella's panties, still in the bag they had been presented in.  
Crazy thoughts littered their way into her mind.  
She would think about the consequences later, and act now.  
She picked up the bag, and opened it up, revealing the panties inside. Carefully, checking that no one was watching, she lifted them out.  
Was she going to sniff them? Like a desperate old man? It was only a few hours ago that she decided she was going to ignore this woman, now she was going to sniff her dirty underwear? What was wrong with her?  
She slowly put them up to her nose before chucking them back on the bed. She couldn't do that. It was disgusting. Disrespectful.  
Sure, she was selling these panties, and someone else would indeed smell them, but it felt so wrong coming from her. She knew this girl. What the hell was she thinking? She was like a rabid animal!  
She let out a breathy laugh at the idea of what she was contemplating, and put the panties back in the bag.


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Flyleaf - "New Horizons."

Stella laughed to herself in her bunk. Piper was ignoring her. And for what? Alex? The girl was delusional, crazy, and she had called her Justin Bieber. Clearly this girl wasn't far off cliche either.  
She didn't rate herself much, Stella was never one to consider herself ugly. But she certainly felt more desirable than this Alex. Sure, she was cute, her glasses gave her a charm, and her smile could melt butter, but the minute she opened her mouth those things were instantly pushed out of the equation.  
Who was she kidding, though? Piper and Alex had history, and here she was, trying to drive a wedge between the two of them, to wade her way in when Alex's back was turned. Maybe she was the delusional crazy one.  
Stella had to face Piper today at work today, and she still wasn't sure how to play it. Would she play it smooth? Maybe. Would she apologize? No. She had nothing to apologize for. It wasn't her fault Piper's relationship was falling apart.  
Well, maybe it was, partly. She convinced herself that it would have fallen apart anyway.  
Wouldn't it?  
"Get a grip...stop being such a woman" Stella said to herself, under her breath as she made her way to the workshop.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
When she entered the room, Piper was already there, sitting down at her station, and already getting on with work. She was early, and Stella could tell something was up. She sat opposite her, not next to her. She didn't want to spook her. It was bad enough that she was even sitting near her, knowing that Piper was doing everything in her power to ignore her.  
Despite this, Stella bit the bullet once again.  
"So...how are you and Alex?" Stella's heart pounded.  
"We're no longer together. She was the one that dumped me I mean it's crazy right?" Though Piper was speaking as she always spoke, something was different about her, almost like she had admitted defeat.  
The words hit Stella like a truck, though she didn't let it show. She didn't want to look like she was pouncing on the idea of a single Piper right away.  
"I'm sorry." Stella stated.  
Then she changed her mind.  
"You know what, I'm not sorry, she was dragging you down. It wasn't healthy to say the least. Now you can move on." Stella was feeling bold today.  
Piper hesitated.  
"I like you Stella, but I don't want to just move on to a new relationship right away, I need some time, you know?"  
The words felt like a vicious bite against Stella's skin. Pricking and ice cold.  
"I'm not some kind of jackal y'know, trying to move in on you the minute you get out of a relationship, who do you think I am?"  
"I know, I'm sorry...I..." Piper hesitated again.  
"This jackal can do just fine by itself." Stella smiled.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
So it seemed that Piper was no longer ignoring her. She was relieved to say the least. I guess she had no reason to, now that Alex and Piper had parted ways. Stella was on her next pair of panties, though they had only been worn one and a half days. At the end of the day, she would once again give them to Piper.  
She rather liked the idea of giving Piper her dirty underwear, it was such a strange thing to achieve joy from, but she'd take any joy that she got in this place.  
Still, something was weighing at the back of her mind though. She was getting out next Tuesday, and she still had yet to tell Piper.  
It was crazy to think that a part of her didn't actually want to leave. She had nothing on the outside, nothing at all. And now she had the possibility of a girlfriend. Granted, a crazy girlfriend that sells dirty panties to old men most likely, but a girlfriend no less.  
It was unfair on Piper to have kept this secret from her. Things may not have happened the way that they did if she had known that her stay wasn't going to be for long. She may not have even kissed her. She may have still been with Alex. Maybe she was grateful she had kept this secret after all.  
She looked forward to tomorrow lunch when she would see Piper again and give her the next pair of panties. She laid down on her bunk, and fell asleep with the smart, rich, blonde girl on the back of her eyelids. 


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Sleeping With Sirens - "The Strays."

It wasn't until lunch that Piper next saw Stella again. She had been planning all night how she would apologize to Stella for treating her as if she was some homewrecker, only around to move in on her when Alex wasn't around. However, once she laid eyes on that smile, she realized everything would be just fine, and there was no need to apologize. It seemed as if they were back to their old selves again.  
They both took their trays up, grabbed their 'meal' (which by the way, was NOT cooked by Red, just a reminder) and sat down opposite each other. Piper had noticed Morello sitting at a table with a piece of paper in hand, but she decided to sit away from that. It might be nice to just sit with Stella and a few other strangers. At least they wouldn't bother to talk to her most likely. She could simply focus on the gorgeous girl before her.  
"How are you holding up?" Stella inquired, her face showing genuine interest in the relationship Piper once had.  
"I'll be fine, it's prison, there are a lot of other things I could be upset about in here." Piper answered, truthfully.  
Without a word, Stella pulled out a pair of panties from her khakis, in a bag, as before, and slid them under the table to her, whilst gently caressing Piper's hand and stroking her thumb over the back of it.  
"Come with me to the movie tonight." There was going to be a movie showing tonight in the prison, but Piper had only heard about it recently. She didn't think about who she'd go with, or if she'd even be interested in going, in fact, she was siding more towards not going, but the minute this girl asked her, she couldn't resist.  
"I would be happy to." A smile tugged at Piper's lips.  
Maybe rushing into things wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
With only a couple of hours left to go until the movie began, Piper started getting ready. It was a stupid notion, she thought. Getting ready in her cube, for a hot prison date. There were worse things she could be doing, though. She could be cleaning toilets in this place, getting beat up, or getting harassed by a guard. She would most likely be doing all of those things before getting out of here, but for tonight, she would be sitting next to an Australian goddess with beautiful hair, and even more beautiful lips.  
She took a shower, her first in a while where she hadn't been spoken to whilst completely naked, spending an extra long time making sure she smelt extra nice, or as nice as you could in prison, to please her 'date'. Because that's what it was, right?  
She smoothed out her prison uniform, because, what else could she wear? And even made sure her boots were as shiny as they could possibly be. She knew Stella would never notice such things, but it was more for her own benefit than Stella's. It would give her the confidence she needed.  
She spent a little too long brushing her hair, and only stopped when it was beginning to fall out everywhere due to the excess of her brushing.  
As she looked in her small pocket mirror, she decided it's the best she's looked in a while. Well, the best she'd looked in prison for a while anyway.  
And if Stella already liked her, then a little more effort couldn't hurt.  
By the time she was finished, she had a little over half an hour left until the movie, so she sat down on her bunk, and thought about all of the possibilities about how tonight might go down.  
Would it just be the movie? Would there be...other things, afterwards?  
She knew for a fact that if it were just them, alone, watching the movie, they wouldn't actually be watching the movie.  
Piper pictured her hands all over Stella's bare flesh. She had seen her naked before, in the shower. Stella had told Piper that she liked to air dry due to sensitive skin. She seemed so confident in her body, and Piper wished she was that confident. Maybe she would be tonight. Maybe she wouldn't.  
She had so many tattoo's, she thought to herself, when this situation had occurred, but that wasn't the first thought that came to mind if she was being honest to herself.  
Her first thought was how badly she wanted to trace her lips over every square inch. Stroke her neck, wrap her fingers in her hair.  
She smiled at the thought.  
If she was lucky, maybe someday that thought might become much more than that. To reiterate, a reality.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Piper showed up early to the movie, searching around the very bare room surrounded only by chairs. There were the odd few here, inmates she rarely talked to, if at all, but no Stella. Not yet. She wasn't worried, I mean, sure, she would have liked Stella to be just as eager as her, but she knew no one would ever be as eager as she was. She liked to show up early for things, especially for things she was looking forward to.  
Who knows, maybe Stella was late, wait, not late, simply not early, because she was getting ready herself. Trying to make herself look nice.  
If Piper was thinking rationally though, she honestly would still like this girl if she wore a dustbin bag to tonight's movie.  
She pushed the thought aside, thinking back to that experience in the library with Alex. Those times were over now. Who knows what other sort of shenanigans she could get into with Stella instead.  
Piper stayed outside the room. She wanted to wait until Stella arrived. On a real date, you wouldn't simply walk into the theater without the person you were going with. It was stupid really, to think such a thing, but she was often thinking silly things like that.  
Stella showed up just on time, as the room was filling up with people. She was glad there seemed to be only seats of two left. She needed an excuse for them to sit alone, just the two of them.  
"You waited for me?" Stella asked, confused, yet smiling.  
"Well no I mean I just got here I was just tying my shoe lace." Piper looked down at her shoes, as if looking at them would confirm her story as true because they were now tied, not that they were ever undone in the first place.  
"Oh...ok, whatever." Stella smirked.  
They took their seat at the front. Stella's choice. Piper was rather hoping for a place at the very back, so that she could maybe kiss her between scenes, though Stella probably just wanted to watch the movie.  
The front would have to do.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The movie was approximately 30 minutes in. It wasn't the greatest of movies, in fact, Piper admittedly was rather bored. She didn't watch many movies at home. And when she did watch them, it was usually with Larry, and when they watched movies, they didn't exactly watch them. Piper almost vomited at the thought now. It was so strange to think that there was a time when she was attracted to him, she couldn't even bare the thought of kissing him now. Yet here she was, hoping, begging, praying for another kiss from this girl next to her.  
Stella's hand was in Pipers lap, which was the only exciting thing about this experience. Piper stroked it, and smiled.  
Piper couldn't bare it anymore. She decided she'd rather ruin everyone else's movie experience and talk to Stella instead.  
"Listen, there's something I want to ask you, it's OK if you say no, it's just, well, I'm kind of embarrassed to ask really but..." Piper hesitated.  
Stella simply stared at her, waiting for the next part of the sentence.  
"I was wondering if you wanted to be business partners? I mean you're so much better at this thing than I am."  
Stella continued to stare. Was she confused? Or simply deciding? Piper wasn't sure.  
"Well, as lovely as that sounds, I'm getting out next Tuesday, so, there's really not much point."  
The words hit Piper like a missile. Quite frankly the idea she had before of scrubbing toilets would have been more attractive on tonight's agenda than this movie all of a sudden.  
Leaving? Getting out? How could she do this to her? Piper felt stupid, and selfish for thinking such things. It wasn't Stella's fault after all, I mean, one day, Piper would be getting out herself, and she didn't consider that selfish on anyone else.  
Though she wished this girl had told her before getting her so attached.  
They watched the rest of the movie in complete silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to confirm, Stella will NOT be going to maximum security or anything like that. I know the story is currently playing out pretty much exactly as it has in the show, and I know this is a spoiler, but Piper will not be screwing Stella over like she did in the show. Stella is going to remain in Litchfield, and the story will continue.


	6. Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Placebo - "A Million Little Pieces"

Stella punched her fist against the wall. Business partners? Was that really what Piper wanted to talk about last night? She felt used. Betrayed. She was beginning to think Piper might be falling for her, but I guess she was just using her for her panty business. That was all it was. Nothing more.  
That's why she was so abrupt to her. She was planning on breaking the news that she was getting out on Tuesday in a subtle way, but last night, she couldn't bring herself to care anymore. She wanted to see if it would hurt Piper like Piper hurt her. Piper didn't care though, of course. So long as she was getting her business partner. That's all she cared about she told herself.  
Piper looked almost upset when she broke the news to her. But it can't have been anything more than her realizing she'd need to find someone else to wear her panties, she thought. Stella knew it was silly to get tangled up in emotions, she didn't even know this girl after all. It was nothing more than a silly girly crush laced with bittersweet desire. It would fade when she left this place.  
She'd been working on a makeshift tattoo needle, it wasn't perfect, but she was planning on asking Piper if she wanted her to tattoo her. If she trusted her enough, that was. It was rather cheesy, but she wanted to leave her mark on Piper, give her something to remember her by when she was gone, not that Piper wanted that, clearly. She just wanted a business partner.  
Well, if that was how it was going to be, two could play at that game.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
She knew where Piper hid the business phone. She knew how she used it to transfer money, and if Stella needed anything, it was money. She wouldn't have dreamed of even contemplating what she was about to do if it wasn't for last night. She was desperate for money, this was true, but she would never steal from someone who cared about her. But Piper didn't care about her, right? She was just another notch on the bedpost to Piper.  
She transferred all of the earnings to her account. She could transfer it back before Piper discovered it was gone, and she almost did. But why should she? She led this business. Without her, it would have already collapsed by now. Piper would probably be in solitary.  
She would think of the consequences later. She now had some money to fall back on when she got out next week, and all it cost was the trust Piper had put in her.  
She left the library, regret already weighing on her mind.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Piper approached her at lunch, surprisingly happy. Clearly she hadn't noticed the money was gone yet. In many ways, she wanted Piper to slap her, get it out of the way now. She had betrayed her trust after all, she supposed she deserved it.  
But no, they simply sat down together, and ate.  
"We should do something, before you leave....I don't really know what yet but.." Piper stared at her food, her voice quiet and shallow.  
She definitely didn't know about the money.  
"Alright, I guess, what did you have in mind?" Stella was more stern than she usually was.  
"Well it's prison, so our options are limited, I don't know, we could, sneak some food out of the cafeteria, go for a picnic by Red's garden." Piper blushed.  
Stella raised an eyebrow and began to laugh.  
"How romantic. But I had something else in mind."  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
They sat down in the church. Stella pulled the makeshift tattoo needle out of her pocket, and plugged it in.  
"How on earth is that possible? Where on earth did you get a walkman?" Piper asked, confused.  
"Some old woman traded it for a fan, god bless menopause, huh?" Stella grinned.  
She continued. "So what do you want?" She inquired.  
"I was thinking like an infinite symbol." Piper said, in a serious tone.  
Once again, Stella raised an eyebrow, mocking her almost. Her facial expression said it all.  
"Fine, do what you want, surprise me."  
That's more like it, Stella thought. She'd been thinking about what she wanted to tattoo on Piper for a while now. She didn't need to pause even for a second to think about it now.  
As soon as she began, Piper retracted her arm.  
"Ow! That hurts!" Piper yelled.  
"Don't think about the pain, ok? It's your pain, y'know? Embrace it. You want it."  
"Ok, ok, I want the pain." Piper said. She gritted her teeth as Stella continued with the tattoo.  
She stared at the beautiful girl before her, she couldn't imagine being without her next Tuesday. It wasn't the pain of the tattoo that was hurting her anymore, but rather the pain of knowing that the one person in here that she truly cared for would no longer be here anymore.  
She'd no longer wake up looking forward to workshop, where she would see her again.  
She'd no longer look forward to lunchtimes where they would sit together, and share stories.  
"I'm going to miss you." Piper said, quiet as a mouse, though the words having such a loud effect they could echo off the walls.  
Stella turned to face Piper, kissing her lazily.  
This would hardly help her get over this girl, but she kissed her back anyway.  
Piper put her hands on Stella's face, her arm on full display, and on it, read the words "TRUST NO BITCH."


	7. Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: PVRIS - "Fire".

It was late in the morning by the time Piper realized her money was missing. She had done the same thing she did every morning. Brushed her teeth, showered, dressed, and combed her hair. Same routine, different day. She was feeling rather high from the night before. The tattoo still leaving a sickly joyous sensation on her flesh. She rubbed her fingers over it for comfort. It wasn't much, but in here, it meant the world. Her world was a cell, and there was little to grab onto. The feeling slowly went away, though, when faced with the situation in front of her.  
She knew who it was. She knew this girl couldn't be trusted. Flaca. She should have never got this girl involved. She wasn't just angry at her for stealing the money, she was angry at her for ruining the high rush she had moments before.  
She would sort it, and then she would enjoy the rest of the time she had with Stella before something else got in the way.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It didn't take long to find her. Flaca was sitting in the church, her hands in her lap, staring down. She was unhappy. Good, piper thought to herself. Serves her right. It came as a surprise to her though, she should be happy, now that she had all that money after all. Well, she wouldn't have it for long. She grabbed the girl from the church pew, pulling her into the aisle.  
"I know you took it, so give it back." Piper wasn't going to be messed with today.  
"Have what? What are you talking about?" Flaca asked, confused as ever.  
"Don't play dumb, I can't believe you made up that stupid story about your mother being sick to make me feel sorry for you!" Piper was almost shaking from her words.  
"Her mother IS sick." Gloria stood up, defending Flaca.  
So Flaca didn't take it? But if she didn't, then who did? This didn't make any sense. Flaca was the only person that knew where Piper hid that phone. Alex and Stella knew too, but she could rule them out right away, couldn't she?  
I mean, Alex would know she would be caught, and be hassled for months on end about it. And Stella....well...she knew Stella. She trusted her. She'd never do something like that. She wouldn't want to deal with the repercussions either, would she? Unless she wasn't expecting to be caught until it was too late and she had been released.  
"Goddammit." Piper said to herself.  
She left the church.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Piper sat in her bunk, debating her next move. Stella had stolen her money. The girl who had kissed her just the other night had stolen her money. Why? Why would she do such a thing? In a few hours, she would be seeing her again in workshop. She prayed she wouldn't see her before that. It was possible of course. I mean, this was prison. She could show up anywhere at any time. She wanted to have it out with this girl, of course she did. But she wasn't sure what she was going to say yet.  
She thought she could be trusted. It was foolish to think so. She barely knew this girl yet this morning she would have put her life in her hands. She needed to stop getting so close to people. It was different with Alex. Alex hurt her all the time, sure, more than she'd ever been hurt in her life. But they hurt each other. It was their way, almost. They knew it was coming and they knew they couldn't do anything to stop it. And they weren't sure if they even wanted to. Because once it was over they came back to each other, it didn't matter what they did. They were both rotten to the core, and they were almost proud of it when they were together, because they were rotten together. Two peas in a pod.  
With Stella, it was so much different than that. It was pure. Based upon trust. They weren't sure what they were to each other. They just were. They would be. But suddenly that was ripped apart, and they were separate. Different sides of the mirror.  
And for the first time, she was glad that Stella was leaving on Tuesday, but despite all of this, she didn't hate Stella, and she hated herself for thinking it.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Workshop had come around quickly, and Piper still wasn't sure what she was going to say. She wished this never happened, that way, she could run up to this girl. No, that was desperate, walk up to this girl, stroke her hands, exchange a few sly smirks, and agree to meet up later for some time alone. But no, because this stupid hot Australian girl was difficult, she would have to destroy the very foundations they had built whatever their relationship was upon.  
She recalled the time she had first saw this girl in workshop. How different times had been. They simply smiled at each other. Stella had complimented her, and Piper was left longing and wanting more. The only thing she cared about then was seeing her again. If only if it was to look at her.  
And now, she was walking over to her to have quite a different conversation.  
"You know, I should have listened to the tattoo you gave me last night." Piper looked Stella dead in the eye.  
"Excuse me? Care to reiterate?" Stella asked, acting confused.  
"My moneys gone, and only three people knew where I hid that phone. You, Alex, and Flaca. Flaca didn't do it, and seeing as Alex and I are stuck here and only one of us is getting out, it didn't really take me long to deduce suspects." Piper said firmly.  
"Ok, ok, listen, I have nothing on the outside. Not a penny to my name. Nothing. I didn't know what I was going to do on the outside, and I needed something to fall back on. I was going to tell you, I really was." Stella looked honest. Piper wasn't expecting her to come clean so quickly. And the worst part was, she couldn't hate this girl, couldn't even dislike her slightly anymore. If it was true, and Stella really needed the money, then there was nothing for it. Piper had enough money. This girl had nothing.  
She almost hated herself for forgiving her so easy. She was a push over. No matter how many times she tried to act tough, it was only that. An act.  
"If you'd have just asked me, I would have given you it." Piper was still angry.  
"I know you would have, you're a nice girl, Chapman. But to tell you the truth it wasn't just the money, I was angry at you."  
Angry? At her?  
"Wait what? What have I done?" Piper raised her voice, only to be hushed by a nearby guard.  
"You asked me to be your business partner." Stella said, staring Piper right in the face.  
"What has that got to do with anything? Why are you angry at me for that?" Piper couldn't be more confused.  
Stella's eyes were glassy, sincere, desperate.  
"I thought you were going to ask me to be your girlfriend." Stella locked eyes with Piper for just a moment more before looking at her shoes, almost embarrassed by her own emotions.  
Piper stood her ground. It was funny almost, she'd wanted Stella to show her true feelings for a while now, and the time she finally did, it was because she was trying to gain forgiveness.  
"But you're getting out next Tuesday, you said that yourself, Stella, what difference does it make?"  
"Yeah...but you didn't know that." Was Stella going to cry?  
No, not the Stella she knew. Piper could see tears forming in her eyes, but never quite meeting her face.  
Piper wanted to kiss her right there and then, more passionately than she ever had before. But she couldn't, of course, not with all the guards around. It'd be worth getting a shot if she could just touch her, just for a second, and she could tell Stella was thinking the same thing.  
Piper laced her fingers in Stella's, slowly stroked her thumb, and released before anyone could notice.  
She proceeded to walk away, and continue working.  
And suddenly, that high feeling she had that very morning rushed upon her once again.


	8. Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: All Time Low - "Remembering Sunday."

When workshop next came around, Stella was smiling from ear to ear. There was no use hiding it anymore. She cared for Piper. Very much so in fact. She greatly enjoyed spending time with her, and she was hoping that Piper, in turn, felt the same. The only bad thing about this though was that when she did spent time with Piper, the days went by faster. Much faster. She would have thought that the best thing that could ever happen to her. She would see the outside world quicker, and it had been something she was almost dying to see again for a long time. But now, everything felt so foreign. Her emotions, her feelings, her conflicted thoughts.  
It sounded ridiculous, but she had planned it out in her head how she could remain in contact with Piper. Damn, she thought, she was really falling for this girl. Piper didn't have THAT long on her sentence, and Stella wasn't exactly planning on getting settled down before then. They could make this work.  
Did Piper want it to work though? Maybe she was just making the most of a bad situation. Piper was in prison, she needed comfort, maybe she chose Stella for simplicity, and when she could finally leave this place, Stella would be a name and nothing more, to be passed around in conversation at a dinner table with friends.  
Stella had to hand it to herself, she sure had a way of turning even the brightest of situations bleak.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
After workshop, both Stella and Piper slipped away into the church. People rarely went there on Monday's, and Stella couldn't bare the thought of leaving Piper behind without at least spending some time with her first. They sat between pews on the floor, hidden away almost. Stella was thinking just how badly she never wanted to be found.  
She liked being invisible, no one to bother her, to ask favours of her, to make her speak when she didn't want to be spoken to. But now, she was here, and she was invisible with someone else. But it was different. She wanted this girl to bother her, to ask favours from her, to convince her that she wanted to speak when she didn't want to be spoken to.  
"We could stay here until tomorrow." Piper looked Stella dead in the eye. Stella knew she was joking of course, they'd never get away with it, but it wasn't such a bad idea, and she didn't completely object to it.  
"Sounds like a plan." Stella smirked. She sat cross legged, her hands pressed together. There wasn't much room between these pews. In fact, she was debating how she was going to stand up once it was time to go back, though she couldn't bring herself to care about that right now.  
She shifted so that she was now facing Piper, but remained cross legged.  
Piper shifted some hair from Stella's face, stroking her thumb gently over it. She leaned in to kiss her.  
Stella kissed back, slowly at first, then forcefully, desperate, longing.  
Piper wrapped her arms around Stella's neck, leaning in closer, despite them both sitting in such an awkward position. She began kissing her neck, biting, sucking, enjoying. Stella tasted like soap and lavender.  
Stella couldn't take it anymore, she awkwardly shifted herself, grabbing Piper and placing her on her lap, pulling her closer to her.  
They were crushed between the pews, between each other, and they couldn't get enough.  
Stella placed a hand underneath the back of Piper's shirt, feeling her back, her fingers sliding over her bra, slowly, she expertly unclasped it with one hand, and slid it off, placing it to the side.  
She lifted the front of Piper's shirt this time, leaning down and kissing her bare stomach.  
Piper moaned with pleasure, pulling at Stella's hair.  
Stella placed a hand on her breast, slowly lining her fingers over every piece of her.  
Piper could barely contain her breaths anymore, and it didn't matter. Nothing did except this moment.  
"We have to get back." Piper said, her breathing heavy, ragged, out of place.  
"Shut up, Chapman" Stella replied, before continuing to place kisses on Pipers exposed flesh.  
"To be continued?" Piper asked, knowing that this would be the last time they would get to do this in prison, as tomorrow, it'd be over.  
And it was then that Stella knew her question had been answered. Piper truly DID want to see her after she got out.  
She grinned.  
"To be continued."  
After awkwardly maneuvering themselves which seemed like forever, they left the church together.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Alex entered the church, and sat down at the front. She didn't like going here alone especially, she was constantly in fear that someone was going to come up behind her and kill her. She always sat at the front. If anyone was going to approach her, by the time they got to her, she would have heard them and she would have time to react.  
She took her glasses off, placed her head in her hands, and rubbed her temple. She thought about how Stella was getting out tomorrow, and of course, she was happy about that, she'd no longer be bothering Piper anymore, and things might even be able to go back to the way they once were, but at the same time she was angry. This stupid Australian girl with an even stupider accent was getting out, and she wasn't.  
She had seen them come in here together earlier, and Piper wasn't the religious type. She was just hoping that she came here for Stella's benefit. Maybe this girl was religious. Though she doubted herself.  
She placed her glasses back on her face, quietly stood up, and made her way back to the entrance of the church, before she halted, and her gaze was led astray. Laying there on the floor between the pews was a bra.  
All bras in here look the same, she thought. It could be anyone's.  
No, she knew better.  
Alex left the church alone.


	9. Nine

Today was the day. "I'm finally getting out of here." Stella thought to herself. It still seemed unreal, and it wouldn't seem real until she was outside the gates, and being driven away. And maybe even then it wouldn't feel real. Just last night she had her arms wrapped around Piper. And tonight, she'd be in some cheap hotel most likely. She'd need to get a flat in the long run of course, but she'd have to think about that later.  
She packed the little belongings she had, and placed them in her cupboard. She then proceeded to sit on her bed, and write.  
It had been something she was considering for a couple of days now, she was going to write a note to Piper. This was prison, and love notes didn't exactly go down well here, not unless it had the words "rough" and "sex" included in it, but this letter wasn't like that, and she thought Piper might appreciate it.  
She wasn't sure when she would give it to her, but she knew she'd see her very soon. She'd skipped breakfast due to lack of sleep, nerves most likely, and she was hardly going to leave without saying goodbye. But she also knew that someone could come to collect her at any time and she wouldn't have time to go and find her, so she wrote the letter as quickly as possible, and went to lunch.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
At first, she didn't see Piper anywhere, she certainly wasn't at any of the tables. Her panic was shortsighted though, when she noticed a tall blonde girl in the queue, lining up to collect her meal. She pushed her way in, which prompted various insults her way, one of which being "why don't you go and adopt another child, Angelina Jolie?"  
It was laughable, almost, and hardly an insult comparing her to an extremely beautiful women.  
"Why don't you eat me?" Stella said, tilting her head to the side, grinning vigorously.  
She was getting out today, and she could do whatever the hell she wanted.  
It was the one good thing about today.  
"You're just a regular old queue pusher aren't you?" Piper smiled, recalling the first time Stella jumped the queue and showed off her panties.  
"You love it, Chapman."  
Someone tapped Stella on the shoulder. Taystee.  
"Just because you getting out today, don't mean you can push your little white ass in on my spot."  
"Well there isn't a lot you can do about it, so either back off, or I'll make you back off." Stella threatened.  
"Excuse you?" Taystee raised her voice.  
Stella laughed, finding the encounter nothing short of hilarious, and went to collect her meal.  
She was stopped in her tracks by Maritza.  
"You want your meal, you join the back of the queue, you got that?"  
All of a sudden, it was Taystee that was laughing, and Stella was on the other side of it.  
Stella took a step back, defeated, and joined the back of the queue behind Alex, who found the situation even more amusing than Taystee did.  
"Finding something funny?" Stella asked. She wasn't going to be messed with today.  
"Yeah, I'm finding it funny how you think you can screw my girlfriend and treat everyone else like crap." Alex stared Stella right in the face.  
Stella and Piper had yet to have sex, but Alex didn't have to know that. She wouldn't give her the satisfaction.  
"For starters, it's ex girlfriend, and it's not my fault I can satisfy her better than you can." Stella was feeling brave today.  
"You want to know something funny? You've not once said anything to me, but the day you're getting out you're acting like some badass all of a sudden? Please, you're not fooling anyone." If Stella had actually managed to offend Alex, she wasn't showing any physical signs.  
Alex had her there. Dammit.  
She queued in silence.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
By the time she got her meal, Piper was halfway through hers. She took a seat opposite her.  
"You're making a good impression today." Piper said.  
Stella smiled. She wasn't even angry anymore now that she was talking to Piper.  
"What can I say, I'm trying to make my mark on as many people as I can before the inevitable happens."  
"What? You haven't tattooed all of them already? I thought you'd have many willing participants."  
"I know? Shocker right?" Stella winked.  
God she was going to miss this girl.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
They spent the next half an hour on Stella's bed, kissing, talking, kissing some more.  
Stella knew it wouldn't be long before she was leaving. She committed all of Piper's features to memory. She knew that in a few months time, she would forget the way her index finger always twitched, she'd forget the way she always stroked her legs in awkward situations, but she'd never forget the way this girl made her feel. She'd never forget the smile that graced her lips and that feeling it gave her knowing that it was her that put it there.  
This was going to be harder than she could possibly imagine, and the longer she thought about it, the more desperate she was with each lingering kiss.  
She pulled the note from out of her cupboard, and placed it in Piper's hand, stroking it as she did so.  
Piper put it away, and smiled.  
"I'm going to miss you." Pipers eyes were glassy all of a sudden.  
Stella didn't need to say anything, she thought her eyes did the talking for her. She gave the girl another kiss before her world was shook just enough to rattle the ground beneath her.  
"Inmate, out." A guard. One whom did not seem pleased. What was he so angry about? Was he here for her release?  
She obliged, and both Piper and Stella left the cube.  
He began searching through her belongings. Another guard later came to assist. What the hell was happening? They wouldn't find anything.  
She spoke to soon.  
They pulled out a cellphone. Pipers cellphone. What was it doing under her mattress? She'd put it back where it belonged!  
There was no way she was getting out today with that kind of contraband.  
She was dragged away, forcefully.  
"IT WASN'T ME, LOOK AT ME STELLA, OK? IT WASN'T ME." Piper was shouting, urgent.  
"I know. I know." Quiet as a fieldmouse, Stella could barely get the words out.  
She was defeated.


	10. Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Young Guns - "Bones" acoustic.

Piper stared at the walls. She wasn't thinking. She couldn't think. She didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to say. Just yesterday, her biggest worry was knowing Stella was being released, and now, her biggest worry was not knowing what was going to happen to her.  
If she was to be sent to maximum security, it would be likely she would never see her again. And if she was never going to see her again, then she would never be herself again, and where was the closure in that?  
She hadn't even the time to think about the possibilities of whom screwed Stella over. Or rather, she had too much time, too much to think about that she couldn't quite get her head around just yet.  
If Stella was in solitary confinement, it would be likely she would see her again. Soon. She would smile at the thought, but until she had that clarity she needed, she wouldn't smile again.  
The comfort she once had still lingered on her skin, though the longer she lay in her bed, sulking almost, the harder it burned. She recalled the night that Stella tattooed three words on her skin, and the pain that came with it. This hurt more. Much more. Stella had told her to embrace the pain, it was her pain after all, but how could she embrace this? Embrace. She thought about the warmth of Stella's flesh, her embrace. She'd add time on her sentence just to have that feeling one more time.  
When you're visiting a location, of whatever kind, it is not often that you are aware that this may be the last time you ever visit that location, and the majority of the time, it didn't matter. When you're kissing a person, whomever it may be, it is not often that you are aware that this may be the last time you ever kiss that person, and the majority of the time, it didn't matter. But this time it did. It mattered. It mattered a lot.  
When she saw Stella walk away from her, to wherever they were going to take her, she didn't even put up a fight. She simply walked with them. It was like she didn't even care what they were going to do to her.  
Piper couldn't even put up a fight on her behalf, not right now. She wanted to discover who did this to her, and when she did, she certainly wasn't going to treat them with respect. Right now however, she didn't even have the energy to speak. So she didn't. She didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to say.  
Piper stared at the walls.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
When it was time to go to lunch, Piper simply grabbed a carton of milk, and sat down at the emptiest table. She wasn't hungry. Was Stella eating lunch she wondered? Was she even offered lunch? Did it matter?  
Alex was probably loving this, and if she even thought for the slightest moment that she was going to come crawling back to her, she was wrong. She would hold her head high, even if Stella couldn't.  
She was aware she was moping like a stroppy teenager right now, but she felt like she was allowed, like someone gave her permission to do so, and Alex could hardly talk. She was acting psychotic lately. Which was worse, psychotic bitch, or stroppy kid? I guess it didn't matter.  
She was constantly thinking of things that didn't matter today, though there were one hundred things she could be thinking about that did matter, and they all began with the letter S.  
No one spoke to her that lunchtime.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It was time for workshop, and Piper lay in bed. She didn't attempt to move. She didn't want to move. She wanted to remain right there. She wanted to remain invisible.  
"Inmate, up." A guard.  
She didn't even need to ask why he was here. It was stupid to think she was getting out of work. God knows everyone needed panties! Whatever would they do without her oh god forbid! The company would be ruined!  
She rolled her eyes and lifted herself from the bed as slowly as possible. He could wait.  
Just as she imagined. Workshop dragged, and dragged, and dragged.  
It just wasn't the same.  
It was never the greatest job on the planet, but now, it certainly felt like the worst.  
She didn't know how to behave without Stella here. She'd never had to discover how to behave without Stella here before, because Stella was always here.  
There were people she could talk to, she was aware of that. But she didn't care to.  
There were people she could sit with, she was aware of that also. But she didn't care to do that either.  
She didn't even have the energy to be sad anymore, she was fed up she supposed, but not sad.  
Sad was for teenage girls, Stella would say, she could hear it in her accent.  
She wasn't going to be a woman about this, though she wouldn't blame Stella if she wanted to be a woman about it. I mean, the poor girl thought she was getting out of prison yesterday, only to be dragged away by guards, taken to god knows where.  
If Stella wanted to be a woman about this, it was allowed.  
She silently gave her permission.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It had been a week, and the feeling still hadn't washed away. Piper was fed up, but not sad. Sad was for teenage girls.  
She'd spent more time in her bed over this period than anywhere else. She hadn't eaten in a couple of days, she just simply wasn't hungry. Even the thought of food made her nauseous. People were starting to think she was depressed. Was she though? Was this was depression was? If she even dared ask anyone in here, she'd know the response before it was even given.  
"You don't know what depression is, rich bitch." Something on those lines.  
She felt guilty. Fed up and guilty.  
She felt guilty because it had been a week, and she had yet to even attempt to discover who screwed Stella over.  
She owed it to her, didn't she?  
Maybe not, but she felt like she did. But the energy simply just never came.  
All she could think about was the last time she saw Stella, and even that took the little energy she had. The kiss, the note, the NOTE?  
How could she have forgotten?!  
It had been a week, and she hadn't even glanced at it!  
She'd never gotten out of bed faster than in that moment.  
She rummaged through her cupboard, grabbing the note so fast she almost tore it in half.  
She sat back down on the bed.  
She took a deep breath.  
She was alone.  
She opened the note.


	11. Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today, the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal across all 50 states. So I think this is the perfect time to post a chapter, don't you? I would have rather liked to post a chapter where Stella and Piper were all loved up together but unfortunately, Stella's in a little bit of trouble. This aside, love wins! 
> 
> Song listened to whilst writing: Of Mice & Men - "Space Enough To Grow"

It was dark in here. Cold and dark. She didn’t know how long it had been. She didn’t care to know. She didn’t know when she was getting out of here. She didn’t want to know that either. She was scared of the response, or the lack of it.  
How did she end up here? She thought. She hadn’t cried yet, though simply trying to wrap her head around all of this was putting her on the verge of tears.  
She couldn’t hold it in anymore, no matter how much she tried, no matter how hard she bit her lip, and suddenly it all just burst out of her.  
Her tough girl costume was ripped away until it was simply only that. A costume.  
She couldn’t decide whether she was crying for her situation, or crying because she was simply driving herself insane in here.  
Piper told her about how she had been here before, simply for dancing with Alex. She said about how she completely drove herself mad. She also said how lucky she was that she would never end up in here because she was getting out on Tuesday. How far away Tuesday seemed now.  
Had other Tuesdays come yet?  
It was so hard to tell.  
It was dark in here, and Stella was scared.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
She traced her fingers over her arms, creating new patterns that weren’t there, and never would be. She imagined it being Pipers fingers that were creating these patterns, but it wasn’t dark enough for that and she wasn’t fooling anyone.  
She closed her eyes, and tried again. Still no luck.  
Tears streamed down her face again and she pushed them away. She wasn’t going to lose herself in here. She had to toughen up.  
She punched the wall, again, and again, and again. If she was going to cry it was going to be for something real, something she could see, and not for her own mental suffering.  
She felt the bones crack in her knuckles, blood streaming down the walls.  
“You know honey, if you’re trying to get out of here; I suggest a different means other than bashing your hand out on that wall over there.”  
Who was that? The voice was feminine with a slight husk to it. She’d heard it before.  
“Er...excuse me?” Stella asked, confused.  
“All I’m sayin’ is, if you want to get out of here, you might want to act less crazy. God knows the transsexual has already been labelled crazy, I can punch all the walls I want.” Transsexual.  
It was Sophia.  
She didn’t know the girl well, though she knew Piper was close to her, or at least, used to be. She’d completely forgotten Sophia had wound up here like her. She didn’t know how it happened; Sophia was always so nice, so kind. Whatever happened, it was likely it was no fault of her own.  
Just like her then.  
“So, what you in here for hun?” Sophia called out again.  
“Guards found a cell phone under my pillow, only I didn’t put it there, not that it matters now.”  
There was a small pause before Sophia spoke again.  
“Seems like we both been screwed over then.”  
Stella smiled for the first time in a while, and wiped away her tears.  
Suddenly the room didn’t seem so dark anymore.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Her fist stung like a bitch. She’d asked for help a few times, though she was reluctant to do so. It had been two days, at least, what she thought was two days, and still, no one had obliged.  
She was counting days in sleeps. If she fell asleep, and woke up a little while later, she just counted it as another day. It was probably inaccurate, as some days she couldn’t sleep at all, and others, she slept through for what felt like a few days.  
She’d bled on her sheets, she’d bled on the toilet, she’d bled in the sink. She’d left a little bit of herself everywhere. She recalled that Tuesday in the cafeteria, where Piper had said that she had to leave her mark before she left. This isn’t exactly what she’d had in mind.  
She’d been speaking to Sophia as often as possible, taking her mind off the dire situation.  
Their sleep schedule was rather different though, most likely due to the fact that Stella slept simply whenever she got the opportunity, and Sophia slept at roughly the same time each night.  
But when they could talk, they did. They shared stories, prison stories mainly, but nothing about Piper. Stella didn’t feel right talking about Piper.  
What happened with them stayed between them.  
Stella’s fist slowly died down in pain, though it was bruised and various pieces of skin had shed themselves from her knuckles.  
She thought about the note. Had Piper opened it yet? She must have done, she thought. It had been a while after all.  
Did Piper care to open the note?  
Did Piper go back to Alex after this happened?  
Stella’s body tensed at the thought. She needed to take her mind off Piper.  
What she did was her own business.  
Business.  
Business Partners.  
God, she wished she could go back to that. The simplicity of it all.  
When she got out of here, if she got out of here, she would never complain about that job again. She’d never complain about prison again. Compared to this place it was a five star resort.  
She would wear Pipers panties, she’d get them dirty, and she’d never complain that weird people were sniffing them all around the world.  
She could definitely sell the ones she was already wearing. They’d sell for a few hundred by now.  
She was so disgusted by herself she started laughing.  
Piper would find it funny too.  
But Piper wasn’t here.  
And Piper wasn’t coming for her.  
No one was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Temporary note, the next chapter won't be uploaded until Monday as I'm going away for the weekend without a laptop. I apologize for the inconvenience!


	12. Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Charli XCX - "How Can I"

Two weeks. It had been two weeks, and still there wasn't even a fraction of a sign as to where Stella was. Piper was beginning to come to terms that she may never see her again. It was more likely than not, but every single time she tried to imagine it, to even give it the slightest piece of acceptance, it simply would not work. She couldn't accept it like she couldn't accept a knife to the gut.  
Alex was constantly badgering her, though she did seem worried, constantly asking Piper if she was ok. Alex always knew the response before it was even given, but it was more of a remark to say "I'm here" rather than anything.  
Piper knew Alex would take her back in an instant. Their relationship was like that. No matter what happened Piper knew that she could always come back to Alex. But she didn't want that. She didn't need a person to fall back onto she needed a person to lean on. It wasn't fair on Alex to treat her like that either. Alex deserved something better than that. She felt almost guilty just for speaking to her as it seemed to be giving Alex an inclination that they were getting back together real soon.  
They weren't.  
Piper just couldn't.  
Alex was too good for her.  
But then again, wasn't Stella also?  
Right now she felt like a cockroach would be too good for her.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Lunch was at it always was. Drab and bleak. It was funny, Piper thought, before she met Stella lunch was just fine, but once she knew what lunch could be like with Stella anything paled in comparison.  
She ate as quickly as possible, avoided as many people as possible, and left as quickly as possible.  
She got back to her bed, sat down, and took the note out of the cupboard.  
It was something that she did every day, and she was reliant on it as her only comfort at the moment. Her safety blanket almost, as warm as an embrace.  
She was smiling before she even opened it, because she already knew the contents inside.  
Before her was well written note, detailing bits and pieces about Stella's past, the real her, not the prison girl she knew. Her parents, her ex lovers, her hometown. Everything Piper could want to know about this girl was on this piece of paper and it felt more intimate than any partner she had ever had, and Stella wasn't even a partner.  
Below was the part that made her truly smile.  
It was a drawing of a rather old looking man, probably mid 60's, and what was he doing? Sniffing Pipers underwear.  
It was a rather amusing drawing really, with a caption on it symbolizing that this man was quite the regular customer, as he said "Ah! This ones definitely Chapman!"  
There wasn't a time Piper could look at this drawing and not grin from ear to ear. It was like a piece of Stella was left behind no matter where she went, a lot like the tattoo that graced her arm.  
In the note, Stella had said that she had made many mistakes in her life, but going to prison wasn't one of them. She had found herself in here whilst finding Piper at the same time. Or as Stella called it "roasting two dingos on one barbie" as opposed to "killing two birds with one stone." It always made Piper laugh, and she imagines Stella laughing as she wrote it too.  
Her writing was neat, but not perfect in any way. It was the imperfections she loved. The crossing out, the sometimes bold letters that became spindly in the next sentence, the times she accidentally wrote a 'p' instead of a 'b' and tried to fix it. It wasn't perfect, but it was Stella's. She didn't want perfect, perfect was overrated and could wait, she just wanted Stella.  
The most important part of the note, however, was what was listed at the bottom. A part so important it made Piper's heart race.

"THE FOUR SEASONS RESTAURANT, LICHFIELD, SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2016, 8:05PM." 

Stella had wanted to see her again, free woman or not, she wanted Piper as something other than a prison distraction, and it was enough to keep her going. If she wasn't going to see Stella in prison again, she could at least hold on to this. Maybe Stella wouldn't show, but maybe she would. Maybe they'd see each other again, and embrace each other, and possibly even cry. Maybe they would grab each other by the hand, skip the restaurant, and find somewhere private where they could finally be alone. Could finally be them. Could finally show just what they meant to each other.  
Piper had it all planned out, she would go to the restaurant, but for the first time she would look like her and not some inmate. Stella would say that it didn't matter what she looked like, just as long as she was here. Piper would then pull out the note, flip it over, and have her own drawing on the back of it, this time with Stella's face on it, sniffing her underwear with the caption "the old man will have to wait, it's my turn!"  
They'd laugh, and smile, tears in their eyes. They'd just stare at each other for a while, truly take each other in, and they would hold each other on the side of the road for what felt like centuries, and go hand in hand into the streetlights.  
It was cheesy, Piper was very much aware of that, but it was the only thing that was keeping her going.  
Who knew a piece of paper could be so important?  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It was time to get her evening meal. She had already almost finished her drawing. What could she say? She was eager, and she couldn't wait for Stella to see it. She rounded it off as best she could, and placed it in her trousers. She would finish it later. She was almost looking forward to it.  
She stood in the queue, and collected her meal as always. The evening meal remained her least favourite, it tasted awful. No wonder people pretended they were Jewish here just to get different meals, she was almost tempted herself.  
She looked around for a place to sit, though most seats were already taken. Note to self, she thought, come earlier next time instead of drawing a picture of a Australian woman sniffing her underwear, and suddenly, her gaze shifted almost immediately and her deceiving eyes told the truth for just the smallest of moments.  
Standing in the door way was none other than Stella Carlin.  
Piper dropped her tray.


	13. Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: PVRIS - "St. Patrick"

Stella was dragged out of her own private hellhole without a word of warning, ready to be placed back into the general prison population. She should really consider herself lucky, she thought. She could have been transferred to maximum security. Though she didn't feel lucky.  
She had spent over two weeks in a dark and damp box. She would say it was as boring as watching paint dry, but there wasn't even paint to watch, only bare walls, and you didn't know true boredom until that was your only view.  
She had a vice, though, and it went without saying as to what it was. The thought of seeing Piper again, her one vice, was enough to keep her going. To keep her alive, breathing, steady.  
Some foreign feeling inside of her screamed nervousness and ecstasy at the same time. She knew that the minute she laid eyes on her again she'd get that rush of adrenaline which she hadn't felt since the last kiss they shared.  
Stella was not one to be nervous by any means, so why was she now? Piper could hardly have changed in the space of a little over two weeks.  
There was only one way to discover if she had.  
She walked into the cafeteria.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Her eyes didn't even need to travel to find her. She noticed the blonde girl faster than she could click her fingers. Faster than she could blink and miss her. Her breathing increased, rapid at first, then slower, then rapid again. She knew it wouldn't die down until they had everything out in the open once again, and maybe even then she would do little to be able to control her crazy heart that knew exactly what it wanted. Who it wanted.  
Piper dropped her tray on the floor, just like that. Was it shock? Excitement? Both?  
There was no running in this prison, and it was probably just as well. Because if there was, Stella would have sprinted over to her right there and then, jumping tables, chairs, people, and threw herself right into Piper's arms.  
But no, there was no running in this prison, so she walked briskly over to the girl in front of her, and smiled.  
The girl smiled back.  
Stella's smile turned into a grin.  
The girl grinned back.  
There was no hugging in prison, and it was probably just as well. Because if there was, it would be only the beginning of what she wanted to do.  
Screw it, she thought. She hugged her anyway, tighter than she had ever hugged another being.  
"Inmates, break it up" the guard warned.  
They let each other go, though they did so very slowly.  
Piper pulled a piece of paper out of her trousers. It looked a lot like the note she had given her.  
It was the note she had given her.  
"This isn't exactly a restaurant, and it's not September 22nd, and it's not 2016, or 8:05PM, but I wanted to live it now." Piper said, tears welling up in her eyes.  
Stella took the note from the shaking girls hands, placing it in her own battered and bruised ones.  
She burst out laughing until tears streamed from her eyes, matching the ones of a girl she cared so deeply for.  
A drawing of herself sniffing Piper's underwear.  
It wasn't original by any means, Stella had covered it herself, but it was the unoriginal design that made it so amusing.  
"Well, seeing as you dropped your food all over the floor of this dump and I'm all full up on stale bread and water, how about we bail out of here?" Stella asked, smiling.  
"I think I could manage that." Piper responded, her smile matching Stella's.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Their lips locked before they even got back to Piper's bunk, Red was in the cafeteria as always, 'cooking' the food, which again, just to remind everyone, was not actually cooked by her at all.  
Stella threw her down onto the bed, and stood over her for just a minute, before grinning from ear to ear and placing her body on Piper's shaking one.  
She softly kissed the blonde's neck, releasing moans of pleasure from the girl.  
Piper reciprocated by biting down on Stella's collarbone, creating a surge of pain and ecstasy at the same time.  
Stella twirled her delicate fingers between strands of soft blonde hair that smelt like strawberry's and soap.  
There was no need to rush this, she thought. She had been waiting for this moment for a while now, thinking about this moment every second that she spent away from her.  
They had plenty of time before people returned from their meal, and Stella was eager to savour every last second.  
Clearly Piper had not heard the thoughts of the girl before her, as she began expertly sliding her hands underneath Stella's white prison jumper.  
Their lips remained locked, and Piper could feel Stella grinning against her mouth. Piper mimicked the moves, her own lips curving into a smile making the kiss full of teeth and laughter.  
Stella pulled her jumper over her head, revealing her bare flesh underneath covered in ink and memories.  
She was straddled on top of Piper now, and for the briefest of moments, the girl underneath her simply laid there, her expression blank.  
She then proceeded to place her hands on Stella's shoulders, tracing her fingers down over every square each, lingering on each and every piece of art.  
Stella WAS a piece of art, Piper thought to herself, made up of smaller masterpieces that only she could explain.  
Piper awkwardly maneuvered herself so that she could replicate Stella's actions, taking her shirt off and placing it on the floor.  
Stella leaned down, and began kissing Piper's stomach, tracing her fingers over the sides of her ribcage.  
She noticed that Piper had become a lot skinnier since they last spoke, she was clearly not eating, but that would be something they would discuss on another day.  
Before they could even comprehend the time they had left, they both left themselves bare, completely exposed to each other for the first time, flesh against flesh.  
Their fingers became intertwined on one hand, whilst Stella kissed each one of Piper's fingertips on the other.  
She slowly moved her lips down Piper's exposed skin, until she reached the part that Piper had been longing her to reach for a long time.  
It took all of Piper's control to keep in the loud moan she was dying to get out.  
There was a guard behind the glass at the other end of the room, and to her knowledge, they hadn't been spotted.  
It could of course be possible that they had in fact been spotted, and he was simply enjoying the show.  
Right now, Piper couldn't care less, let him see the slice of bliss that she was currently feeling.  
Her legs began to shake underneath the girl on top of her. Stella silenced them by placing her hands on her thighs before placing them on her stomach to steady the girl coming apart below her in a swarm of pleasure and warmth.  
The timing couldn't have been better, as before she knew it, Piper could hear voices from oncoming people in the hallway.  
The inmates were returning.  
"Jesus Christ Stella get off of me!" Piper's voiced, raised.  
"Is that really the way you speak to the girl that just made you cum?" Stella said, smiling, whilst at the same time pulling herself away from Piper.  
"Now isn't really the time for jokes" Piper replied, pulling her shirt over her head whilst grabbing her pants up from off the floor.  
Stella dressed in the space of a few seconds. Faster than Piper. Clearly she was used to this.  
"Well, this has been lovely" Piper said, her teeth gleaming in the form of a grin. "Do you need me to show you the way out?"  
"This cube is very confusing, but I think I can manage to find my way out of the imaginary door, oh look, there it is." Stella replied.  
She pretended to twist a handle in the door way, and motioned her hands in a way that signified she was opening a door that in fact, wasn't there.  
Piper laughed.  
"We should do this again sometime" the blonde girl spoke in a serious tone, before bursting out into laughter again.  
Stella simply winked, and left with a smile on her face that god himself couldn't take away.


	14. Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Deaf Havana - "The Past Six Years"

Piper woke up early that morning. She could hardly resist embracing the new day, and if she paid close attention, she could still feel a slight vibration on her lips from Stella's kiss. How could she forget such soft lips, such delicate touch? When she imagined intimacy with Stella, she pictured roughness, desperation, longing. When actually experiencing it however, it was suddenly something completely different.  
Stella's whole facade and appearance did not scream love, care, or delicate grace. Stella was a loaded gun and her voice was treason. Her smile screamed dirty sex, and her eyes told stories of heartbreak. Though Stella's heart could never be broken, Piper imagined she had broken many herself.  
It seemed however that Stella's facade was simply that. A facade. A shattered image full of scattered pieces that simply needed sweeping up. Once they were ripped away, Stella's touch was gentle, nurturing, and the loaded gun simply became the bullet aimed straight in Piper's direction.  
Just another heart to break.  
Piper was ready for whatever shot would be fired at her, after all, she had survived Alex.  
She could survive anything.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Breakfast was less than inspiring, as always, but it was a thought that only pierced Piper's mind for the briefest of seconds, because all these petty little things no longer mattered anymore. Petty was nothing on pretty. And pretty stood right in front of her. Stella was back, and the last two weeks seemed like a distant memory.  
As they sat down together, Piper couldn't help but stare at Stella's bandaged hand. She'd noticed it yesterday, of course, when their hands were intertwined it was hard not to notice a piece of fabric scraping against her skin, though mentioning it during that period seemed rather inappropriate, and if she was being honest to herself, a mood killer to say the least.  
"It's probably best we don't get into my hand." Stella had clearly noticed Piper glaring.  
"Fine by me." Piper replied. There would have been a time in which Piper would panic over the simplest cut or bruise, but this was prison. Things happened in here that didn't happen quite as often outside these walls. It was an occupational hazard and she had learned to accept it.  
There wasn't something that wasn't quite fine with Piper though, and she wanted to address it now.  
"So I haven't managed to find out who put that cellphone under your bed and..."  
She was interrupted before finishing her sentence.  
"Listen, Chaps, we can talk about that another time. I'm not even mad anymore, I'm just happy to be out of that place, y'know?"  
Piper understood that, there had been plenty of times where she had to let things go too, even if she didn't want to.  
She decided however, though, that this wasn't one of them. Even if Stella didn't want to know who screwed her over, Piper did.  
And when she found out, she was going to kill them.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
They went straight to work after breakfast, the food sitting like rocks in Piper's stomach. She had only started eating again very recently, and it was a burden with each mouthful. Her appetite had returned in part, but to her, food nowadays was just something she knew she had to engage in to stay alive, but not something to indulge.  
They sat at their workstation, side by side. They usually stood opposite each other so that they could communicate easier, but if they stood next to each other they could hold hands discretely and scrape each others skin gently between intervals.  
Piper found it almost comical, they were grown women yet they acted like two loved up teenagers who just got their first crush.  
It was relieving to say the least, relationships did go downhill over college, and kisses were replaced with bills, touches replaced with arguments, it was something she didn't need in her life right now. She'd had enough arguing with Alex to last a lifetime.  
So she'd act like a loved up teenager, let people tell her she couldn't.  
Piper cut the fabric, another day, another set of panties. If Stella had seen the 'work' she had done whilst she wasn't here she would have doubled over with laughter. Piper was angry and careless whilst she was gone, her fabric looking as if someone had chewed it into shape instead of using scissors.  
Once she was finished with her piece, she waited for Stella to finish hers so that they could sit together beside the sewing machines.  
She trailed her fingers down Stella's trousers, and then slowly slid them up her top.  
"Piper, stop it, you're distracting me." Stella grinned.  
Piper continued, grinning back.  
"Dude, stop I'm going to mess this up." Stella was laughing now.  
And once again, Piper continued.  
"Oh Jesus." Stella said, her smile quickly vanishing.  
She had cut straight through the fabric rendering it unusable.  
She glared at the blonde girl who had caused her such problems.  
At this point, Piper was creasing with laughter, she wiped a tear from her eye.  
"Move aside, let the master do it, Australian's clearly have no clue how to make panties." Piper joked.  
"Maybe Australian's would know how to make panties if we weren't so damned attractive to the point where tall hot blonde girls felt them up during production."  
"Maybe Australian's need to learn how to multi-task." Piper replied, whilst quickly cutting Stella another piece of fabric.  
"All done, shall we go to the sewing machines now? Or do you need me to hold on to your fabric whilst you walk? Wouldn't want you to have too many tasks at once I know how hard it is for your people." Piper was pushing her luck now.  
Stella punched her on the shoulder, grinned, and walked herself over to the sewing machines.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
When work had finished, and Piper had taken yet another pair of panties to wear until they festered with her own filth, they grabbed lunch swiftly and efficiently, and ate it just as quickly as they had grabbed it.  
They went back to Piper's bunk, knowing that they would not have enough time to repeat yesterdays events, but enough time to simply spend some time alone.  
Piper lay on top of Stella's body, her head placed gently on her collarbone. Stella's chin was placed firmly on Piper's head, and she could still smell that familiar scent of strawberry's and soap.  
Fortunately for Piper, Stella had showered since her time in solitary, and she smelt just as pleasant, though not of strawberries, rather more of apples and a hint of lemon, most likely her shampoo and soap combining flavours.  
Piper wanted to ask Stella if she knew how long she was going to remain in Litchfield for, of course her sentence must have been increased, but she couldn't find a way to bring up such a sore subject.  
Now probably wasn't the time to either, with Stella's hand placed on her back and her other bandaged hand twirling patterns in her hair, she was contempt just like this, safe.  
Piper maneuvered her head so that she was no longer looking down but rather straight into Stella's eyes.  
Stella placed a firm kiss on Piper's lips, and Piper smiled knowing the fact that she knew she would still feel it the next morning, as she had before.  
Stella was a loaded gun, her voice was treason, lost in a facade of dirty smiles and even dirtier words.  
But that's all it was.  
A facade.


	15. Fifteen

Alex stirred in her sleep. Her dreams vivid, so translucent and crystalline that she could almost reach out into the light and grab it with both hands. She dreamed of Piper. It was a regular occurrence, and had become much more frequent since returning back to this hell hole she now called a home.  
She was starting to think she'd be like one of those weirdos who forgot how to function on the outside. Though when you saw stories like that, they typically had someone there for them to guide them through it, and currently, Alex had no one.  
Piper was happy in the dream, so contempt and fragile. She was Alex's own personal bliss, her slice of Heaven. They sat by a lake, hand in hand, the sun shining deep into their eyes, and the world at their back.  
There was no one there, no one besides them. There didn't need to be. They were all each other had and they were damn proud of it too. They didn't need anyone else. They just needed this.  
It was enough.  
As Alex tossed and turned in her bunk, the dream began to slip away faster than it had arrived, and she could no longer reach out for it.  
She opened her eyes, and just like that, her personal bliss, her slice of Heaven, it was gone.  
And it wasn't enough anymore.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
She wandered the canteen, looking for a place to sit that was as far away from Piper and Stella as possible. She had first pondered the idea of sitting near them so she could listen in on their conversations, did they talk about her?  
Her second thought was simply walking over there, sitting down beside them, and completely drilling into them.  
Both ideas seemed equally as immature as each other, and Alex was going to hold her head high. She had to after all, her confidence was the only part of her that seemed real these days. She decided to take route three, and sat far away.  
They were both laughing now, their hands underneath the table, and if you looked close enough, you could see them intertwined.  
It made Alex want to vomit if she was honest.  
They were both acting like two loved up kids destined to be put together by the fates of mankind and if she was telling the truth, it was stupid.  
Alex debated whether the two of them were aware that there was a life outside of them.  
Outside of their relationship, or whatever it was.  
It definitely wasn't just sex, she could rule that one out right now.  
But it can't have been love, it was too soon for love, she wasn't going to rule it out though.  
She couldn't rule anything out these days.  
She couldn't rule out anything that Piper did anymore.  
It was like Piper was capable of anything.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
She had noticed that the two of them were constantly slipping away from lunch early. Always early. And she knew why, too. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out. It was laughable almost, they gobbled their food down so fast she was surprised the both of them managed to 'perform' after such a display.  
They must kiss between the throbbing dullness of heartburn.  
How romantic.  
Alex had to tone down the thoughts, she told herself, it wasn't normal to be smiling to herself all the time, but the idea of after-lunch-sex was both amusing and abysmal to her.  
And the most important factor was that it took away the pang of jealousy.  
Or at least, most of it.  
She could lie to herself, and say that she wasn't jealous at all, but she knew what she would dream of tonight, or rather, who she would dream of.  
And the worst part?  
She was excited by the prospect.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Alex went back to her bunk after lunch, thoughts still plaguing her mind to such an extent that she imagined physical specimens eating away at her brain until there was little left but partial memories.  
She had to do something to take her mind off it, she could sleep, but she knew what would happen if she slept.  
If she slept, she would dream.  
And if she dreamed, she'd be back to square one.  
The silence was deafening, and each second was like an everlasting torture of the mind.  
She walked to the church.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
She sat at the back.  
It had been the first time she had done this. The front was her spot, though it fueled her paranoia.  
It wasn't that she was no longer paranoid, it was rather the fact that if she sat at the front she would have to walk the entire length of the pews. And if she walked the entire length of the pews, she would remember the time she found Piper's bra in between them.  
She wasn't even sure why she was here if she was being honest to herself. If God was real she wouldn't be stuck in this place.  
God wasn't real, she told herself. God wasn't real.  
God wouldn't put her here again and again. God would intervene.  
She laughed out loud at the thought.  
When had she gotten this stupid, this light headed?  
God hadn't put her here.  
Piper hadn't even put her here per se.  
She put herself here. And only she could intervene.  
The people surrounding you could be your crutch, sure, even your downfall, but you, and only you, can be in control of what comes next.  
She placed her glasses by her side, she then proceeded to press her hands to her forehead, and began to pray.  
She didn't know what she was praying for. Who she was praying to. Why she was praying. But she needed a crutch. She didn't feel in control of the 'next' anymore, and all that came were downfalls.  
Avalanche after avalanche of downfalls.  
With thoughts so deep, so weight bearing, she had lost herself in the silence. She became so lost, that she didn't even hear the footsteps behind her.  
Her prayer was shortsighted as two hands lunged at her from behind, finding their place and home against her bare throat.  
God wouldn't intervene, not now, not ever.  
She gasped for the breath that would not come, and just like when she dreamed, the light became so real and translucent that she could almost reach out and touch it.  
She was chasing the light.


	16. Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OK, so I know that you guys want a love story and you'll get it I swear, and I know this chapter is a bit more hard hitting than ones before it, but I swear it'll be fine. I'll update as soon as possible and I hope this doesn't upset you too much. By the way, Stella's secret? You're not supposed to know it just yet, so don't worry. Though it's probably not hard to guess as I do give away the game a little bit. Well, a lot. I just wanted to include a little more feels. But you'll get happy chapters very soon I promise!
> 
> Song listened to whilst writing: Young Guns - "Rising Up"

Stella was fighting her demons, and if she lost the battle they would simply break out of her. She stood in the shower, to wash away her sins, to repent. It was cold, refreshing, but her skin was feverish, burning. She had an irrational fear of claustrophobia, and the cubicle was heightening that fear.  
It didn't usually, it would be a nightmare feeling claustrophobic every single time she took a shower. Instead, she felt claustrophobic every time something was eating away at her. As if her body was going to rip away from its skin, and she'd be left with nothing but bones.  
She felt caged in her own body.

  
**October 31st, 2012: Halloween.**

  
_"What do you think?" the woman said._  
 _"It's perfect. Just what I wanted." Stella smiled._  
 _She traced her fingers over the new tattoo, it was Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles._  
 _To some, to many even, it was silly, stupid, but it meant a lot to Stella. It reminded her of home. Safety._  
 _She reclined to the back of the chair, and simply sat there for a moment._  
 _"I'm just going to put some things away Stel, I'll be back in a moment." The woman left._  
 _Stella had known this woman for a long time now. She was a friend, a companion. She always came here to get work done. She wouldn't trust anyone else to leave such a permanent mark on her skin. It felt more personal coming from someone she cared about._  
 _She cared about her a lot, but it didn't stop her from what she was about to do._  
 _Before she knew it she was raising her body from the chair, and walking over towards the deserted cash register._  
 _She knew how to open it, she had seen Clarke, the woman whom had just tattooed her, open it on numerous occasions._  
 _And open it she did. She grabbed the money, placing it in her bag, and walked away before she could hate herself enough to return._  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Stella would have liked to be able to tell people that this was the only occasion she stole, but it was an unfortunate habit of hers. And it was often from people she cared about. She was a walking disaster, she thought. Everyone that got close to her got hurt. It was selfish to let anyone near.  
She struggled to earn an honest living, and even when she did have a steady job she still found herself in the wallets of her friends, the bank accounts of her loved ones.  
Halloween was not the first time, and it wouldn't be the last.  
It wasn't what she was caught for, it was not often that she was caught. People put so much trust and faith in her that it didn't even cross their minds that she would do such a terrible thing.  
And here she was again. With Piper.  
The secrets hidden in her mind, and in her mind alone, were going to be the death of her.  
She had to tell someone. Had to tell Piper.  
Piper knew Stella had stolen from her, and in fact, she was one of the first people to call her out on it.  
And she had forgiven her.  
But she only knew half of the truth.  
The other half, the part still deep in her mind, was much worse.  
So much worse.  
If Piper found out, if Stella was to tell her, she was a dead woman.  
And that isn't even what she feared the most, Piper killing her was the best case scenario. It was Piper not caring about her anymore that hurt the most.  
The walls were caving in, she turned the shower off.  
She was suffocating.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Well hey there stranger." Piper walked over towards Stella, and planted a kiss on her lips.  
Stella smiled, but it didn't quite meet her eyes.  
Seeing Piper happy seemed to hurt her even more. She wanted to talk to her so badly but taking away the blonde's beautiful smile seemed abhorrent to her.  
Wanted to tell her all of her regrets, all of her burdens.  
But she couldn't.  
She just couldn't.  
"Do I smell or something?" Piper jokingly sniffed under her arms, and grinned.  
"Yeah you reek, sorry, can't be around you today." Stella joked, though she didn't feel like laughing.  
But Piper laughed, so that was all that mattered, she supposed.  
"You wanna go back to my bunk or something? I know it's not lunchtime and we'll have a show but we can be discreet....can't we?" Piper said, whilst placing a hand up Stella's shirt.  
If Stella was being honest, that was the last thing on her mind.  
She had to tell her, she thought, she couldn't keep up this charade any longer.  
Maybe Piper would be forgiving, maybe she'd speak to her again.  
Who was she kidding? This would destroy anything they once had.  
Her breathing heaved, she became light headed, her knees trembled.  
And down her cheek came salty waves of defeat.  
"Stella? Stella what's wrong?"  
"I'm so sorry Chapman, I'm so goddamn sorry."  
"What, what have you done?"  
"It was an act, Piper, it was all an act."


	17. Seventeen

Alex awoke with a throb in her head and a fire in her throat. A bright light splayed deeply into her vision like paint onto a canvas, but she knew it was unnatural light as it only disorientated one of her eyes.  
"Feeling better?" a woman asked, with dark skin and even darker eyes.  
She was in the infirmary.  
A noise left her throat, it acted in a sort of "yes, I'm fine except-I-feel-like-I'm-going-to-die" way.  
But Alex was tough, she wasn't going to sulk in here. If she was going to experience pain for the next few days, she was going to experience it anywhere. She might as well experience it back in her bunk.  
And if her mystery assailant came back to finish the job?  
She'd be ready.  
"Can I leave now?" Alex inquired.  
"You may." The woman smiled.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Alex walked straight into the canteen, her eyes making a quick observation. Stella and Piper were not sitting together.  
She'd been gone a day, at least, she thought she had. It was a sudden end to an even quicker relationship.  
She wasn't going to meddle in Piper's affairs, not right now. She had bigger fish to fry.  
She began eating her lunch, but immediately halted when she saw Piper rise from her chair, a carton of milk in her hand. She walked over to Stella, opened the milk carton, and poured it straight over the Australian's head.  
A few days ago, Alex would have probably doubled over with laughter.  
She couldn't even bring herself to care anymore.  
The worst part was that she even felt slightly sorry for Stella.  
Sure, Stella was a complete and utter girlfriend stealing bitch, but Alex knew Piper's ways. She let people close, she got bored or her mood changed and suddenly she just didn't care about you anymore.  
She was a user of people, and currently Stella was in her cross-hairs.  
Stella simply sat there, covered in milk. She didn't flinch when it happened, as if she expected it.  
The girl simply got up, carefully picked up her soggy tray, placed it on top of the bin, and left, calmly.  
Or at least, tried to leave.  
"Yeah, that's it, walk away, coward."  
The girl turned, and Piper spat straight in her face.  
Stella simply wiped it away, as calm as she had been before.  
"I'm not going to fight you, Chapman, you know that, right?" Stella asked.  
"No, you just use people, steal from them, and pretend you're in love with them." Piper observed.  
"I never said I was in love with you, Piper, ever, we barely know each other. But I do care about you. Deeply. And that's the truth."  
The truth was in the girls eyes, even Alex could see it.  
"Yeah? Well, I never cared about you" the blonde replied.  
Piper couldn't.  
And just like that, Stella left, stunned, and defeated.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Alex spent the entirety of lunchtime in silence. Piper didn't even look in her direction.  
Not once.  
She supposed it was a good thing, Piper wasn't crawling back as of yet, like a desperate puppy to its owner.  
Alex wasn't going to be a second choice, another one of Pipers used and abused.  
Not anymore, at least.  
Like she said, she had bigger fish to fry.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"So what the hell is going on with them? Piper and dingo-ate-your-baby I mean."  
It wasn't even that Alex cared all that much. But prison was a bleak and boring place and any gossip was welcomed and practically invited.  
"You don't know? That's fresh." Boo replied.  
"Well I've been strangled half to death in a goddamn church so yeah, I have no clue." Alex replied, sarcastically.  
Boo remained silent for a moment, and Alex spoke again.  
"Wait, how do you even know? I mean, Piper's outspoken but, this?" Alex wanted to say more, but she didn't want to seem like she cared more than she actually did.  
"Every inmate in this place knows about it. It's hard not to." Boo chuckled.  
Alex raised an eyebrow in confusion.  
Boo continued.  
"Their cat fights haven't exactly been private, I'm surprised you didn't hear from the infirmary or wherever the hell you were."  
Alex wasn't surprised after the charade she saw in the canteen just earlier. It made sense.   
"How long have they been fighting for?" Alex asked.  
"Pretty much straight after you were gone. It's a pretty juicy argument if you ask me. Keeps me entertained at least." Boo laughed once again.  
"Why is it so juicy? What even happened?"  
"Let's just say, Stella has a heart of stone, who would have thought?" Boo could hardly contain her laughter now.  
So it was Piper who had been used and abused. Not Stella.  
Karma's a bitch, Alex thought.  
"Thanks, Boo." Alex replied as she left Boo's bunk with adrenaline in her veins and a smile on her face.


	18. Eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first part of the chapter takes place as Piper before the previous chapter that was written in Alex's POV. The second two parts take place after the scene in the canteen once Alex has returned.

"It was an act, Piper, it was all an act."  
The blonde simply stood there, confused, and scared of the possibilities.  
"I don't understand, what was an act?" Though her breathing was rigid, Piper remained calm.  
"This, all of it. Look, I was getting out of prison, at least, I thought I was, and I had nothing. Absolutely nothing. No money, no friends, nothing. I was going back to nothing, Piper. And then I saw you, and there were rumors going around about the blonde girl with a privileged family and a more than likely privileged bank account to go with it, and I just knew it was you. Turns out it was. So yeah, I flirted with you, and I faked the whole goddamn thing, hoping to take a little bit of that privilege you own so I could actually survive in the real world."  
"You....what...I....wh..." Piper stumbled over her words. A sentence did not seem palpable given the situation. It all made sense to her immediately, it was a constant reminder to her that this girl approached her out of the blue without saying a word to her before, she was so forward, so flirtatious, and now she knew why.  
"But listen Chapman, it's not like that anymore. I swear. I'm no poet but I care about you so much and I'm really starting to like you. I don't care about your money, your background, any of it. I just care about you."  
The blonde simply stared, her eyes wide, more confused now than she ever was and even more scared of the possibilities than she had been a moment ago.  
"How much of it was an act Stella? Just how much."  
Suffering ran lines through Piper's eyes, and it was almost too much to think about, Stella couldn't look directly at her, for she knew that if she did, she would simply break again and crumble into nothingness.  
"Everything up until the day I tattooed you. I thought you were hot and I felt something for you the first time we kissed and I couldn't stop thinking about it, but I didn't expect anything to come out of it so I just shook it off I guess, I was jealous that Alex was with you, and I thought we could have some fun in the process, but it was my intention all along to steal from you and just leave you behind once I got out. But what we shared that day in the church was more intimate than anything I could ever comprehend."  
"That's beautiful, just beautiful, but tell me this, if you started caring when you branded your permanent mark on MY skin, why did you steal AFTER that, huh? Fat lot of sense that makes." The sadness had evaporated from Piper's eyes and behind it was heated anger.  
"I steal from people I care about, all the time, that's my problem, Chaps, it was really hard to do what I did, don't you understand that?"  
"Oh yeah you're a real saint, must be so difficult for you." Piper spat.  
"I..." Stella was interrupted almost immediately.  
"Save it. Maybe you'll find some other 'privileged' girl to screw over before you get out of here, happy hunting."  
"Please just stop for a second, I really..."  
Piper smacked Stella in the face so hard that her hand vibrated and tensed her entire body, and moved Stella's body with it.  
Stella remained composed, though Piper could see she was struggling.  
The blonde was confused as to whether this girl was hurt mentally, or physically, or both.  
She had hoped both.  
"I don't expect you to forgive me, Piper, I don't. But I just hope you can see it in me that I would take back what I did in an instant, especially if it meant that we could be together."  
Piper wanted to laugh, almost. This girl had no right. No right.  
Instead, she left the girl behind, and didn't look back.  
If she had, she would have seen the tears leak from the tatted girls eyes as she turned to stare at the blonde one last time.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It seemed as if Alex had gotten back from the infirmary, and it was rather cruel irony that she had walked into the canteen the moment she was pouring a carton of milk on top of Stella's head.  
She would do it again if she could, and probably would in fact, it felt so good to humiliate her just as she had been humiliated.  
However, under her tough layer, she was hurt, and she knew it.  
She had truly cared for Stella, and she still did care. Affection wasn't simply a switch you could turn on or off, it wasn't a separate entity, it was tied to you. To the very core of you. And to remove it would be to remove your entire being.  
She wanted to remove her entire being currently. Anything to wash the feeling of Stella from her skin.  
When she stared into the girls eyes, part of her wanted to believe that she truly did care. But how could she? She had stolen from her. Used her. Manipulated her. It was wrong. So incredibly wrong.  
But hadn't Piper screwed people over too? She was constantly screwing Alex over, though most of the time she deserved it.  
Piper had not done anything to deserve this. She was a stranger to Stella. No, there was no excuse for what this girl had done.  
It was crazy she thought, part of her wanted to strangle this girl to death, and another part, a large part, wanted to walk up to her, and show that she had forgiven her by grabbing her head and locking lips with her more passionately than she ever had done before.  
She had forgiven her once.  
But this was different.  
It was so different.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
She would rather walk over hot coals than go to workshop, but unfortunately, there was no hot coals present, so Piper would have to get through workshop instead.  
Stella was sitting at the far end of the room, Piper knew she had to go to that end of the room as well, for she had to cut out fabric before going to the sewing machines. She sighed, kept her posture, and walked over towards Stella, though she did not stand with her.  
She had noticed Stella quickly staring at her discretely, and then turning her head even faster.  
It was almost as if this girl was now scared to be seen staring.  
Scared of Piper.  
The girl still had a large red mark on her face from where Piper had hit her when she discovered the truth.  
It was there in the canteen when she had poured milk over her, but for some reason it was far more prominent now, swollen almost, though time had passed since.  
Piper felt guilty almost. She had done that to her.  
But she had deserved it, had she not?  
No matter how many times she told herself that, she could even buy into it.  
Piper cut out her fabric quickly and efficiently, she would not be making an extra pair today, any extra time at that cutting table would merely be torture.  
Stella was doing an awful job, and it would typically be now that Piper would grab her fabric, make a quick joke, and cut hers out for her too.  
She would not be doing that today either.  
The blonde grabbed her piece of fabric, and stepped over to the sewing machines.  
She did not look at Stella once for the duration of work.  
She didn't know if it was because she was mad at her, or if she was scared to make eye contact, or the more likely of the three, that she couldn't bare to look at the mark she had left on the girls face.  
And she had not deserved that.


	19. Nineteen

Stella tossed and turned in her bunk. Another sleepless night. She felt like she was back in solitary, driving herself insane again, and if her mind pushed her any further she'd be climbing the walls.  
She pressed her hand to her cheek, and with it came a tingling sensation, pain. She wasn't going to be a woman about it, she was strong, and people had hurt her worse before. Much worse. Though she knew she deserved it.  
Most of the time.

**September 18th 2010 - 2:03AM**

_Stella wandered the streets, unsure of her next move. A few hours ago she had a home, a bed. And now? She had nothing. Her rent had been due for weeks, but it was something she could simply not afford. The result? Her landlord had changed the locks without a word of warning. She had just recently lost her job working at a drive-thru. The simplest of jobs and she couldn't even keep that one down. She was useless, she thought. Completely useless._

_In her view was a rather large group of people, possibly 5-6 of them, hooded, possibly drunk, laughing, mostly male, two female._

_"What even are you?" one of the girls said. She was tall, feminine, her dress was cut short, her hair long and flowing._

_The group laughed in unison._

_"I don't understand what you mean." Stella had a clue, but she wasn't going to point it out. God forbid she made something else about herself known so they could humiliate her some more._

_"Like, are you a guy, or a girl? I mean, you sort of look like a girl, but your suit jacket says otherwise. And your hair? I mean, make up your mind, love." One of the men remarked. Stella could make little of his facial features, his hood made sure of that, but she knew she could see a flick of dark brown hair and some light facial hair to match._

_"What's it to you, huh?" Stella approached the man, getting right up in his face. She knew she wouldn't be able to take all 6 of them, she was tough, but she wasn't that tough. No matter how tough she was, though, she wasn't going to cower in fear._

_"What did you just say to me?" The hooded man replied._

_"You heard me you cocksucker." Stella stared directly into his eyes._

_He turned around to his friends, giving them a toothy grin before making his next statement._

_"You know, I ain't ever hit a girl before, but you ain't a girl."_

_Stella could hardly ready herself before the man punched her square in the jaw knocking her backwards and dropping her body like a rag-doll onto the dirty pavement below._

_The group proceeded to laugh in unison once again._

_Stella composed herself on the ground for just a moment, before pushing herself up as quickly as possible, and punching the hooded man harder than he had hit her._

_He went down, fast and hard. She got on top of him and punched him again and again before she was dragged back by another man, this one with both a hood and a snapback to hide his features._

_He kicked her legs from underneath her, and began using her as a punching bag. Stella could hear the faint laughs of the girls who had started this entire charade as she coughed up blood onto the pavement._

_It felt like an eternity before they decided they'd had enough fun, and Stella was left alone, curled up on the pavement like a stray cat, with nothing to numb the pain._  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Now here she was. Stuck in this place. Feeling the same way she had felt September 18th, 2010.  
Back then, she had no home, nowhere to go. And now? She had a home, in the form of a prison, and only one place she could be.  
Here.  
And she had let this happen.  
How had she let this happen?  
It wouldn't be so bad, she thought, if she didn't use people so much, if she still had Piper.  
But that's what she did, that's who she was.  
God she missed Piper.  
This wasn't a regular 'break-up' if that's even what it was. Which it wasn't. But for arguments sake, if it was, the typical thing to do would be to avoid them. This task proved a lot more difficult in prison. How could you avoid someone you see every day?  
The answer was you couldn't.  
The crazy part was she wanted to see her, all the time, even if it did mean being slapped in the face and spat at, it somehow seemed more preferable than being ignored.  
She couldn't bare it if Piper never spoke to her again.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Lunchtime came around, Stella had skipped breakfast. Her appetite was somewhat small.  
Bags had found their home underneath her eyes, she was tired, but she couldn't sleep. She looked terrible.  
She grabbed her meal, and sat as far away from Piper as she could.  
It wasn't because she was scared, but rather because she wanted to give the girl her space. The blonde had made it clear that she was not going to forgive her any time soon.  
And Stella understood.  
It was what she deserved.  
She ate in silence, as did Piper. They did not exchange glances.  
Stella was just about finished when a folded up piece of paper fell into her tray. A note.  
She looked up, only to find the person who had placed it there.  
Piper.  
The girl walked away, and placed her tray ontop of the bin before leaving the canteen.  
Stella pushed her food aside, and opened the note.

**"WE NEED TO TALK, CHURCH, AFTER LUNCH."**

Stella threw the rest of her lunch away.


	20. Twenty

Piper sat towards the front of the church, and began biting her nails, which was something she hadn't done since she was thirteen.  
It used to be a nervous tick of hers, and it seemed that the tick never really went away, it had just stayed in hiding for an extended period of time. Dormant.  
It was very likely that Stella wouldn't show, Piper thought. If it were her in that position, she wouldn't show either.  
Why should she? She most likely assumed she was going to get her ass kicked, or slapped again at the very least.  
Such actions were not on Piper's agenda today, though.  
She had regretted hurting the girl just moments after she had done so. She would not regret such things again.  
She was angry, and she had every right to be. This girl had used her. To Stella, she was nothing but a chess piece in a big game.  
But things had changed, had they not?  
Stella said they had.  
And Piper had to admit it herself, things did feel different since that day in the church when Stella had tattooed her, more real and vibrant.  
Maybe it wasn't all an act.  
She didn't know what to think, and that is why she remained here, sitting in the church. Waiting for answers.  
And that was when she heard footsteps.  
She turned around to find Stella in the doorway.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The girl took her seat next to Piper, hesitant at first, but only at first.  
It seemed so natural to be sat beside this girl, as if they had known each other their entire lives in different circumstances.  
More fortunate circumstances.  
Stella stared at the ground, almost in fear to look the girl next to her in the eye.  
Piper sensed it, and gently caressed the girls hand, as if to say, _please look at me_.  
The girl trembled underneath Piper's hand, not out of fear, but worry. She had never seen her act in such a way.  
This was Stella, tough, hardhearted Stella. She was not one to cower.  
The girl looked directly into Piper's eyes, and let out a breathy sigh.  
Their hands remained touching, not clasped, just merely touching.  
Piper stroked Stella's thumb with her own, Stella looked down at her hand, only to look straight back up again to Piper.  
They remained this way for what felt like hours, though it was simply minutes, until Stella broke the silence.  
"I don't deserve your forgiveness, Chapman. I don't." Stella gulped in nervousness until she could no longer look at the girl who had made her this way. She stared at her shoes.  
"That's not true." Piper whispered, under her breath, her eyes still locked on Stella, despite the girls eyes not reciprocating the action.  
"There's so much you don't know about me, Piper. So much." The girls eyes remained on the ground.  
"There's a lot you don't know about me too, but isn't that the idea?" Piper observed. Her breathing hitched, her voice still quiet.  
"I mean...there's a lot of bad things." Stella had to be honest with this girl. It was no use lying to her. Not after everything that had happened between them.  
"And you think my hands are clean?" Piper responded.  
"Cleaner than mine." Stella quickly glanced at Piper, only to look away again.  
Piper grabbed the girls face and directed it precisely in front of hers.  
"Look at me. Why can't you look at me?" Piper asked, her voice louder now, but by no means raised.  
"Because..." Stella's eyes became glassy, until a tear found its way out of her.  
Piper could hardly believe what she was seeing. This girl was crying. Crying.  
It almost seemed impossible that this girl could portray such emotions, but she knew better.  
This girl wasn't tough, she was lonely.  
Piper's hand remained in the company of Stella's, and with the other one, she wiped the tear away from the girls cheek, and caressed her face.  
She had expected the girl to kiss her, but Stella simply stared, rigid, unready to make the next move.  
It was up to Piper, then.  
"I forgive you" the blonde whispered.  
She moved forwards, breaking the space between them until their lips were locked and they became one entity.  
They existed together.  
Now Stella had learnt Piper's intentions, her body became more persistent.  
Their hands were no longer touching, but rather around each others bodies.  
Stella expertly worked her hands over Piper's back, and then proceeded to move them up towards her face, stroking her neck as she did so.  
Her breathing caught, she took a quick breath, and Piper did the same, not knowing when they would next breathe again.  
Piper lazily kissed the side of Stella's mouth, missing her lips, but not caring. It was Stella, and she wanted to kiss every part of her.  
She kissed her lips, her jaw, her cheek, and just below her eyes, before working her way down to her neck.  
Stella's breathing was out of control, heavy, heaving.  
They both proceeded to move their bodies as one to the floor, their lips remained locked, sitting up at first, until Piper placed Stella on the floor below her, and laid her down.  
She moved her body with Stella's, laying herself on top of her, until their hands became intertwined.  
The kisses became more forceful, persistent, longing, as if they had known each other their entire lives but only now were they finally getting to experience one another.  
Stella shifted her hand from Piper's grip and clutched the face of the girl on top of her, stroking it gently, sliding her fingers down her neck.  
It drove Piper wild. She pulled her own shirt up over her head, and unclasped her bra until her entire upper body was completely naked.  
Stella maneuvered herself so that she was sitting up, and Piper was placed on her lap.  
She kissed the girls lips once again, and worked her way down until her breast was placed in her mouth.  
The taste of Piper was almost too much. She traced her fingers over the girls ribs, this skinny girl that had stopped eating for her.  
And she in turn had stopped eating for her too.  
Stella reciprocated Pipers actions, lifting her white jumper up above her head, leaving her top half exposed, her prison assigned bra remaining on.  
Piper observed such actions, but it wasn't enough. She unclasped the girls bra for her with one hand, whilst the other caressed the girls stomach.  
There were a thousand words between them, only to be found between touches, and each sensation formed a new unspoken sentence.  
Their bodies became as close as they possibly could, skin against skin, as Piper bit down on Stella's neck with urgency and need.  
The girl moaned against Piper's mouth, the vibrations tearing through like scissors against paper.  
Piper's hips began to grind on top of Stella, as she grabbed the girl forcefully so they were as close as they could possibly be.  
"Dry humping, really? What are you, like 12?" Stella observed, revealing that panty dropping grin she displayed when they first spoke.  
Piper smiled, until it turned into a grin, as she kissed Stella with forcefulness and they became a mesh of lips and teeth.  
The blonde barely had enough time to think, but one thought did cross her mind.  
In this moment, she was happy, and it wasn't just because she had a hot girl underneath her either.  
It was because Stella was happy. It was not just that Piper had forgiven Stella. Stella had forgiven HER for physically hurting her the way that she did.  
For mentally hurting her the way that she did.  
Piper had been self destructing the past few days, hating herself, hating Stella. Self torturing until all that was left was shattered fragments of her own damaged psyche. But she was here, and Stella longed for her just as she longed for Stella.  
Nothing else mattered.  
Piper knew it was time to get back, it was only a moment of time before Norma's troops barged in here and broke up their tea party.  
For now, this would have to be enough.  
She smiled once again before biting Stella's bottom lip. It was enough.  
They dressed in silence, before looking at each other one last time, and smiling.  
Just as they had done before, they left the church together.  
Their hands touched as they walked, Stella made sure of it, until Piper got the idea, and clasped the hand of the girl who had been disguised as an enemy.  
But she could never be that.  
So they wouldn't start again, they wouldn't even pick up the pieces, they had damaged themselves enough by doing so and had the scars to prove it. They would take whatever was left, and pick up where they had left off.  
As business partners, and just a little bit more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so this chapter is one of the fluffiest things since a unicorn in a tutu. But who doesn't like a little bit of fluff every now and then, huh? Who doesn't?! Tell me that! I hope you enjoyed!


	21. Twenty One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this being a smaller chapter, I've been incredibly busy this week and only just found the time to write this. I'll be sure to post a nice big juicy chapter soon enough!

After days and days without slumber, Stella had finally fallen asleep. Granted, she most likely would have slept better wrapped in the arms of a certain tall blonde, but this was prison, and she slept nonetheless.  
It felt good to finally let go, to relax, to not tense her body at every waking moment. She was no longer running from anything, no longer hiding, and the feeling had been so reliving that she was in a constant state of permanent bliss, and nothing, no matter how futile, could destroy her new found peace.  
Just yesterday, she had been in the shark tank, and now, she was simply floating. In past transgressions, she had been the prey, she had been the predator, she had been a mixture of the two, and now? She was neither. She was human, and being human was simply existing.  
And that is exactly what she was going to do.  
Exist.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
When morning came, Stella was refreshed, shiny and new. In the church she had felt so fragile, so broken, and part of her still felt that way. But beneath that, she felt powerful. In control of her own life for the first time in what felt like years.  
She had driven herself insane, she had abused those who loved her and been abused herself, and she had ended up in prison because of it. But sometimes, you have to truly drive yourself to breaking point to realize your true potential.  
She wiped the sleep from her eyes, and sat up. She remained there for just a moment, to establish the day she had just previously encountered. Everything still seemed like such a haze and she couldn't say when things would begin to feel real again.  
She went straight to the showers, regretful almost. She didn't want to wash yesterday’s memories from her skin.  
Stella smiled however, when she realized that things were not as they had been before, and new memories would in turn be created.  
Some that could never be washed away.  
Piper and Stella queued up for their breakfast together, sitting down at a table with Morello, Boo, and Jones.  
Stella couldn’t help but notice Alex’s presence in the room. She practically radiated anxiety, and who could blame her? Stella did not know the full story, but she knew it well enough to know that this girl hasn’t exactly been too fortunate recently.  
She felt guilty almost.  
It was quickly apparent that Piper had not spoken to Alex in a while. They barely looked at each other. The girl was sitting with strangers because both Stella and Piper had sat down with her only friends. She didn’t realize it until it was too late.  
She would have sat somewhere else, had she known. She made note in her mind to sit away from this group in future. God knows Alex had enough problems already.  
She scanned the room one last time, unknowing of what she was looking for, when it hit her. Sophia was sitting across the room, she even had a smile on her face. It made Stella reciprocate the action.  
She was pleased to know that the girl was no longer suffering in solitary. Sophia had been there before Stella, and had got out after her. The thought was unimaginable to Stella. The time she had spent there was more than enough.  
Her thoughts were interrupted when Piper shifted her hand underneath the table and placed it on Stella’s lap. She would have been happy about this had Alex not been watching from across the room. Stella slowly moved her legs away.  
“Is everything ok?” Piper asked.  
“Everything’s fine, Chaps, just, not in front of Alex, ok?”  
“Wait…what? Since when do you care what Alex thinks?” Piper’s tone was forced, but not raised.  
“I don’t, I just feel like she’s got enough on her plate already, no pun intended.”  
Stella could tell her actions had completely baffled Piper, and she wasn’t surprised. She baffled herself. A few weeks ago she would have liked nothing more than to grab Piper and kiss every inch of her right in front of Alex’s face just to heighten the pleasure.  
And now? The thought was abhorrent. Why? Because Stella knew exactly what it was like to be cheated on, to have someone you love become intimate with someone else.  
It was one of the worst feelings in the world, and this time, she had been the cause of it.  
She had been wrong this morning, she was still the predator.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When breakfast had finished, Piper and Stella went hand in hand to workshop. Stella was comfortable with the display of affection, Alex was not a part of this job and therefore it was not something she would have to witness. They began cutting out fabric, when Stella noticed Piper was now cutting not one but two pieces as she had done before everything collapsed.  
"We're still in business?" Stella inquired, with a half grin on a face.  
"Damn straight we are." Piper replied, smiling back.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When lunch came around, Stella remembered what she had told herself at breakfast.  _These are Alex's friends, not yours. You're just the girl who got in the way._  
She sat as far away from them as possible, Piper followed, but only at first.   
"Where are you going? You want to sit with strangers? Our friends are ove...."  
" _Your_ friends are over there. _Alex's_ friends are over there. I don't have friends, not in here." Stella plainly stated.  
"What is it with Alex recently? Has she threatened you? Because if she has I swear to god I'll...."  
"Just drop it, Chaps, ok? You're welcome to go sit over there with them, but I'm going to sit somewhere else. I'm not going to make waves."   
Stella had half expected Piper to fight her on the matter, but she didn't, she simply obliged, and sat elsewhere with Stella.   
Alex noticed the gesture, and sat back in her regular place. It pleased Stella. God knows that girl needed friends right now.   
And Stella knew exactly what it was like to be alone. 


	22. Twenty Two

**December 13th 2011**

_Stella looked up at the girl obstructing her vision. She had never seen anything so beautiful. She kissed her, lazily at first, then forceful, then nothing._

_"Listen, Stella, we need to talk."_

_There were many words in the English language that Stella did not like, moist being one of them, medicine being another, but no set of words were worse than "we need to talk." They never meant anything good, and if she could run away right now, and never hear the next words ushered out of the beautiful girls lips, she would._

_Stella had been laying down on the girls lap, but she decided it was a good time to sit up. They both sat on the floor, and Stella propped herself up against the closest wall. The girl before her sat with her legs crossed, but that was not a position Stella would place herself in. If she needed to get up and walk away from this, she was going to do it as quickly as possible._

_When the girl realized Stella was not going to say anything in response, she simply continued._

_"It's been fun, y'know? We've had some good times, but now I think it'll be best if we just leave it at that. God knows we'd rather leave this on a high note."_

_We? Stella thought. We? Since when had WE decided on anything?_

_She was confused, heart broken, and confused. Their relationship had been nothing but high notes, and it certainly wasn't just fun. There was something there. It was on the edge of Stella's lips but she couldn't quite utter it out loud. Love. It had been love. It was fun and it was love, and it seemed as if this girl thought that once you had one of those elements you could not have the other._

_What she didn't know is that every chemical reaction started somewhere. This was hers. It wasn't the process, it was the end result. And now that's all it had become, an ending. Filled with 'high notes'._

_Stella stared at the ground, afraid to look the beautiful girl in the eye. She wasn't angry, that was an emotion for a later date. She was....she couldn't put her finger on it. Devastated? Quite possibly. Distraught? Again, quite possibly._

_She would remember to add both of those feelings to her ever long list of hated words. A list longer than this relationship had ever been and will now forever be._

_The words in her head streamed through her vessel like liquid gold._

_It went a little something like "I love you. Can't you see that? You mean more to me than life itself. Everything you do is perfect, and your own imperfections are heaven to me. When I'm with you, it's like a taste of bliss, a hint of what's to come. And when I look at you, I know that I can do anything, and that the future is a mystery I am willing to reside within."_

_The words came out, but in a different manner. In the manner of five words, in fact._

_"If that's what you want."_

_\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Stella took a deep breath, remembering each and every detail of each and every moment that she had spent in that temporary ignorance. She had told herself after that day that love was simply that. Ignorance. 

Piper was constantly hounding her, she couldn't quite understand why Stella's relationships were built on fun, and nothing more.

Because love and fun were two different elements, and it had become apparent that night that the former element slipped away from her grasp and faded to nothing. 

It wasn't that she liked hurting people, but sometimes it felt so much easier than the emotional turmoil she would have to deal with herself if she didn't commit herself to destroying the hearts of others.

She smiled at the thought, not with joy, but with an insanity plea. _You're just like her_ she thought. 

And she was right. She had become the girl that had broken her heart, December 13th. Simply because it was easier than experiencing such feelings again.

Yet here she was, stuck behind these walls, and both elements were coming into play again. Both. Love, and fun. She had tried to push the former away. And she had. For a long time. Years in fact. Fun was an element she could handle. It was an element everybody could handle. Love was another matter.

Few could deal with its consequences. 

And she certainly couldn't, not again. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Everything ok?" Piper asked. She always seemed to know when Stella was hiding something, it had become a talent of hers. Stella wasn't sure whether to be paranoid, or ecstatic that this girl cared enough to be bothered by her glumness.

It was lunchtime, Stella wasn't hungry, in fact, she had only one item on her agenda today, and only one reason to be here. It wasn't food.

"Where is this going, Chaps? I need to know now." Stella inquired, her cheeks became flushed, but she remained calm.

"I don't think I understand." Piper gulped in nervousness and it was quite clear that this girl was worried about what was to come.

"I mean, we've had fun, right? But maybe it's better to just end this on a high note?" The words leaked from Stella's lips before she could even attempt to stop them. She wasn't just _like_ the girl who had abandoned her December 13th, she had  _become_ that girl who had abandoned her December 13th. 

"I know you don't mean that, look at you, you're shaking" 

And it was true, Stella  _was_  shaking, and she hated her body for it. She hated it because it was a physical sign that everything that came out of her mouth were lies and nothing more.

"I do mean it, I'm sorry, I'm just, I...."

"You know what you are, Stella? You're pathetic. That's what you are. You pretend like you don't care when in actuality that's the reason why you're saying these things. Because you do. You do care." 

Piper didn't even seem phased by the conversation now, as if she expected it. As if she always expected to be hurt this way. It made the process worse. So much worse. 

 _Pull yourself together_ , Stella thought to herself.  

She repeated it, over and over. _Pull yourself together, pull yourself together._

It didn't work, no matter how much she thought it. Her body retracted the statement like an evil presence. Her body had betrayed her.

The only way to stop it was to leave. She threw her entire meal in the bin. She had to practically drag herself away to prevent looking back and staring into the eyes of the blonde girl who was now left in tears at the events that had just been laid out before the both of them.

It was December 13th all over again. And 13 was anything but lucky. 

 


	23. Twenty Three

Piper sobbed in her bunk. She hated the thought of crying over a girl, and maybe that was only half the reason. The other half being that she was tired of being rejected and turned away all the time. She wasn't just some toy people could put down and pick up whenever they felt like it.

But the more she thought about it, the more she thought about how this was exactly the way she had treated Alex. Her toy. She had loved Alex deeply yet she had treated her like she didn't even matter. Like her feelings didn't even matter. No wonder Stella felt sorry for Alex. She felt sorry for Alex because the girl had been excluded and hurt by the one girl who truly loved her.

And now Stella had treated her the same, and she couldn't say she didn't deserve it. Because she did. She deserved every last second of this torment and the only way to get through it was to accept it for what it truly was.

A shadow cast over her, and she sat up slowly with the little energy she had saved. The rest had been spent crying.

It was Alex.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The blonde wiped the tears away quicker than she could form a sentence. She didn't want to seem weak. Not now. Not in front of Alex.

"What do you want?" Piper asked. She didn't say the words menacingly, but rather in the form of _why would you want to talk to me, I'm a mess._

"I saw what happened...in the canteen. I'm sorry that happened to you Pipes, it was uncalled for and...."

Piper interrupted.

"Save it, Alex, I don't need your pity." The words sounded dirty on her tongue, but she meant it. Didn't she? She wasn't so sure.

She could use anyone right about now.

Alex took a seat beside her on the bed. She kept her distance at first, but only at first.

As she spoke she slowly angled her way in, so that she was close, and facing the girl.

"You wanna talk about it?" Alex said plainly. Quietly. 

"Not really. Do you?" Piper said in the most sarcastic way she could could manage.

"I'd rather just sit here." Alex smiled. 

Piper stared at the girl, and before she knew it she found herself grinning. She couldn't believe it herself. Just a moment ago she thought she was going to be sick with all the tears that had streamed out of her, and now she was _grinning._

"Listen, Pipes, I..."

"Alex, don't, you don't need to say anything." Piper looked directly at the girl in front of her.

Before she knew it, Alex was leaning in until they both shared the same space, she could feel the black haired girl breathing on her lips. 

Alex closed the distance and moved in for a kiss. 

It felt soft, nice, passionate, and longing, but it wasn't right. Not now. It just wasn't right.

"Alex, no. I'm sorry I can't." 

"Why? Stella's not an issue anymore."

"Stella was never an issue, Alex." Piper said sternly. 

"I'm sorry...I thought that was what you wanted. Just breaking the silence, right?" Alex smiled.

The fact that she had just rejected Alex didn't even seem to phase her. The girl simply sat in front of her, smiling, joking, as if she hadn't just had her world rocked a little bit. Seems like she had an effect on no one nowadays. Not even Alex.

"You should go." Piper replied, flatly.

Alex stood up without a word, and left Piper to her own devices.

A few months ago, Piper would have given a limb to have been in the situation she had just encountered. Alex making the first move. Alex _forgiving_ her. And now she was doing anything to push the scenario away. To push Alex out of the picture.

Before the blonde knew it, she was crying again.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When workshop came around, Stella and Piper sat apart yet again.

Piper thought to herself over and over  _if this girl even dares apologize again, that'll be it. I'm not forgiving her. Not this time. Not ever._

And she meant it. She was sure of it. This girl used her countless times, and then left her crying in the canteen like some teenage girl who had just got her heart broken. She had humiliated her more than once. She was spiteful, and childish and annoying but god she was so hot. 

She pushed the thought aside, she wasn't _that_ hot. With that jawline, and those tattoo's, and those soft, wet lips and.....no, she thought. She wasn't doing this again. Besides, Stella's looks were only one of the things Piper found irresistible. It was just the way she was around Piper, her laugh, her jokes, everything. 

But it didn't matter, not anymore. She wasn't Piper's any longer, and chances were she's already found some other girl to screw over and hurt.

The girl looked angry, possibly annoyed at something. What did _she_ have to be angry about? She didn't get dumped in the middle of a canteen full of criminals.

Stella's fabric was all torn and frayed as she cut it out, she was doing a god awful job. It reminded Piper of the time she had done exactly the same thing. Taken her anger out on the pants.

The girl huffed, and sighed, and made her way over to the sewing machine.

"Inmate!" a guard shouted. He was staring in Stella's direction.

"Yeah?" Stella asked. 

"You can't use that fabric, it's all torn and frayed. Start over."

"You know what? Why don't you start over you pathetic low life scum." 

 _This wasn't good_ , Piper thought. Not good at all.

"That's a shot, inmate. You want another? Keep going. You don't want another? You get your dyke ass over to that cutting station _right now_."

Stella's fists clenched, and Piper closed her eyes in fear of what was to come next.

Nothing happened.

She watched as the girl made her way back over to the cutting station, preparing to cut out a new piece of fabric. 

Piper wasn't sure why she feared for the girl so much. It wasn't her problem anymore.

But god, did she wish it was.


	24. Twenty Four

Breakfast was a chore at most. Everything was since. Stella had thought that this was for Piper's own good. For _her_ own good. But was it really? Stella didn't _feel_ good. In fact, she felt completely and utterly distraught. She had thought that once she had ended it with Piper she would feel clean of conscience. Lighter almost. But currently light was nonexistent, and she was beginning to forget the feeling of it, and the emotion that came with it. The only feeling she was currently experiencing was a heavy weight of guilt and regret. Mostly regret.

She took a seat far away from the girl she so longed to sit next to. She wanted to speak to her so badly, say anything to her, just as long as it meant being in her presence. Feeling _allowed_ to be in her presence. Right now, she wasn't worthy of anyone's presence, let alone Pipers. 

It was something she would have to earn again, though she had many doubts that the trust they once shared would forever be severed. Even if they did get back together, Stella knew that Piper would be in constant fear that Stella was lying to her, that she had hidden intentions that would one day be revealed and destroy them, destroy her.

In so many instances, relationships were like time bombs, made only to cause havoc, to destroy its immediate surroundings. And many would have to ask themselves, _is it worth it? I am the immediate surroundings._

So maybe a relationship was off the table. Maybe she didn't want that time bomb, not right now. Maybe Piper didn't either. Maybe something else would be more appropriate. Maybe.

Stella played a million and one different scenario's in her head on a frequent basis. She would next be seeing Piper during workshop. But which scenario would she choose?

There was plan a, tell Piper she was sorry, and that she would like it very much if they could give things another go, then there was plan b, tell Piper she was sorry, and she would like it if they could try something else, something like a relationship but without the restrictive terms, and then there was plan c, tell Piper she was sorry, but it would be best if they never saw each other again, for the sake of both of them.

Time was rushing faster than the blood in her veins and the heartbeat that came with it. She needed it to slow down if she was to come to a rational decision before she next saw Piper. Before she came face to face with the girl who had put her in this situation where she felt like she had no way out.

She willed it to stop. For time to halt, just for the time being. But all that occurred around her was frantic movements and the constant ticking of the clock placed squarely behind her. Time was an illusion, it was air, but right now it had never felt so real.

Before she could even process a functioning sentence, it was time to go to work. Her hands were shaking as she lifted the tray and carried it over to the bin. Why was her body always betraying her in such a way? It was so difficult to be strong on the inside when the outside was plotting against you. Making you look weak.

She was weak.

Stella walked alone, noticing that Piper was doing the same. She glanced over for just a second before averting her gaze. The blonde was staring right back at her. Their eyes locked for a fraction of a second before it slipped away faster than time had gone in the cafeteria.

They stood opposite each other on the cutting table, and suddenly time was going a lot slower. Of course it was. This was a terribly awkward situation and just like her body time was against her. It wanted to prolong her pain.

What it didn't know was that she _needed_ this time, needed it to reflect on what she was going to say. Which plan she was going to use, which words would come out the most honest. 

She took a deep breath, she had decided. Now she just had to will herself to get the words out. 

The first word in question came out as an inconsistent babble, a simple noise before Piper made her way over to the sewing machines. 

Great. It was too late. Piper had taken a seat beside two other occupied machines. This meant that if Stella was going to say what she had prepared herself to say, it would have to be in front of an audience. 

Screw it, Stella thought. Just do it. Just do it.

She cut her fabric out, quickly, yet efficiently - she wasn't going to cut out another piece due shoddiness - and made her way over to the blonde who was now working on sewing her pieces of fabric together. She always was quick. The star pupil of the show. 

She waited, waited, and waited some more. Piper was currently busy, and Stella was beginning to think that the girl hadn't even noticed she was standing behind her. Beginning to think, until Piper turned around and looked Stella square in the eyes, stern faced, and broken at the same time.

They simply stood for just a moment, looking directly at each other. Stella grasped one of her hands in the other, almost forcing them to stop shaking, alas, it only made it worse.

"If you've come to mess me around again...." Piper was the first to speak but was interrupted by the girl with the shaking hands. 

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Stella said the words quickly, and lazily, but they were out in the open nonetheless. Finally, they were out.

Piper smiled and stared at the ground for just a moment before looking straight back at Stella. 

Her smile was so contagious and before she knew it Stella was grinning back with the same childlike enthusiasm she had given when they first met. But this time it was real. It had always been real. It had just taken her this long to figure it out.

"Yes." Piper replied, before bursting out laughing. 

Maybe being a time bomb wasn't so bad after all.

_I am the immediate surroundings._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed having a bit of fluff in your day folks!


	25. Twenty Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why not have a bit of smut in your day?

Piper cupped Stella's chin, bringing her face, so full of life, closer to her. She could already feel her breath on her neck but it wasn't enough.

She closed the distance with a long and passionate kiss before pushing the girl onto her bunk and climbing on top of her.

They remained this way for a while, just two bodies intertwined together, locked by lips and flesh, spirit and energy. Stella's expert hands found their home on Piper's exposed arms, sliding her fingers down each square inch, exploring, finding, longing. It still wasn't enough. These expert hands wanted to explore other parts of the blonde. To search for something that she wasn't quite sure of. To find it, and embrace it.

She lifted the girls shirt over her head, and carefully unclasped her bra until her top half was completely exposed. She wanted to be exposed with her, so she did the same to herself, leaving her top half bare, leaving herself vulnerable for the time they would share together, however long that time may or could be.

Piper bit down on the neck of the girl beneath her, almost hungry for her body, leaving a mark there that would soon bruise, needing, wanting, insisting that they stay this way. Insisting that she was hers and no one else's. That only she had the power to make her feel this way.

Stella gasped at the sensation, the pain, the pleasure, the force of the bite. She was hers.

Piper lazily kissed the girls jaw, the jaw that was so perfectly outlined, so sharp and beautiful. So elegant and pleasing to touch. Hers.

She made her way down to her collarbone, kissing gently at first, but only at first, until things became so much more desperate, so passionate, so bold, and fragile, and her body accepted it, longed for the touch. For the experience. Hers.

And then her breasts, so supple, so round. She slid her fingers over each one, until Stella's body ached for more. Piper could feel the heat radiating off this beautiful woman, this woman that was no longer a stranger, because she had been here before. And she was hers.

Piper's heart felt like it was going to push its way out of her chest, her breathing so rapid, so rigid, so intense, and she knew Stella felt the same way as their bodies became one and Stella's chest was against her own. Her heart beat just as fast.

The blonde wanted to close the distance between them even further, so she removed all barriers of clothing between them until they were both completely bare. She knew that they would not have long, but she no longer cared. She longed for this girl, ached for this girl, it wasn't a want, it was a need, a desire for intimacy, for human touch. To belong to someone and in turn have them belong to you, regardless of whether the bliss would be permanent, or ephemeral.

In this moment, it didn't matter. Stella's hips quaked against Piper's own, begging to feel something.

Their body temperature escalated, until they were both burning at each and every touch, and each daring, passionate kiss. Two lazy lovers that simply couldn't get enough.

"I want you" Stella whispered, glaring at Piper with longing eyes.

Piper understood, as she shifted herself to the side of Stella's stomach. She looked her dead in the eye as she placed one finger inside the girl who was so desperate for this attention, for this touch from this girl and no one else.

The blonde pulsed in and out of her, carefully, tentative, then faster, harder. She leaned down to place kisses on the girl she was aptly pleasuring. Stella moaned against Piper's lips until they became a mesh of tongue and teeth and laughter.

Piper placed another finger inside, as one no longer seemed enough. She wanted to make this girl really feel something. To be truly satisfied.

Once again, Stella's hips responded to the touch, moving upwards, pushing her fingers further inside. A bead of sweat trickled down her stomach as she came apart and collapsed into a haze of gratification and pleasure and she forgot how to breathe for just that moment.

And when her breathing slowly found its way back to her, the girl who had made her feel such things was staring down at her. She longed to touch her back, to make her feel the things she had just felt. But sadly, she knew there was little time, and if they didn't stop now, they might never stop. She made a note to herself that if they ever got to do this again, no she thought, _when_ they do this again, she would make Piper feel such things. 

They stayed that way for just a moment, staring at each other, things remained silent except for their rapid breathing. Piper placed one last kiss on the girls lips before sitting up and dressing herself.

Stella followed suit, smiling at the girl as she did so. And when they were dressed, they stared at each other for just a moment longer, before Stella stood up, kissed Piper's forehead, and left with a grin on her face, and a fire in her heart.


	26. Twenty Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay in this chapter. My laptop broke and I had to wait for the new one to come in order to post. These things aside, enjoy!
> 
> Also, 100 kudos? Thank you so much! Hope you guys stick around to see the next 100 kudos maybe? Wishful thinking? Possibly.

Alex couldn't sleep that night. Or any other night. Alex was afraid. Turning, reeling, practically crawling up the walls. Driving herself insane. Since leaving the infirmary, she had witnessed heartbreak, she had witnessed reparations, and she had witnessed Piper.

If she was being honest to herself, things in fact seemed incredibly easier when they were shouting in each others faces. At least the two of them knew they cared for each other, at least they knew that the actions imposed on the other mattered to an extent. And now, Piper couldn't care less what was going on in Alex's life. _Oh, you were strangled? Well that's a shame. Better get back to cheating on you now._ She could hear it in Piper's voice, and even saying it out loud in her own voice didn't make it any less real or any more foreign. 

They had quarreled, they had fought, hell, they had literally pulled each others hair out, but to Alex, this hurt worse. So much worse. And she could hardly bare it.

Alex was afraid, heartbroken and tired, but she couldn't sleep that night. Or any other night. So she would simply crawl up the walls.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Breakfast was a bust, a mesh of stale porridge and even staler glances in her direction. She wasn't sure whether people feared her, or pitied her. Possibly a mix of the two. Few had been supportive after the events in the church. But this was prison. And people got hurt. 

She just happened to be in the cross-hairs.

Alex's eyes wandered over to the table that she used to sit at. Residing in her spot was her favourite Australian, Stella Carlin. Of course she would sit there. Of course. Just the other day she was disputing with Piper, claiming that they should both sit somewhere else, and now, she was sitting in her spot. How the tables had turned she thought, _no pun intended._

The spot-stealer was holding hands with the heartbreaker. A perfectly imperfect couple. They were smiling, laughing, cheering, doing all of the things Alex didn't want them to do, and what's worse is that they were doing it with _her_ friends. Her only friends. And the two of them were treating this place like a 5 star resort. Like they were on vacation. 

She expected this of Piper, stealing the life of another was something that came naturally to the blonde outside of prison, and one could only expect said 'talents' to rise to the surface once again inside this hell-hole. The environment didn't matter, the personality remained the same. 

She wasn't sure what to expect of Stella. She barely knew the girl, and the little facts she knew were rather invalid. She had assessed that 

_1) She was a liar_

_2) She was a manipulator_

_3) She had a rather strange obsession with tattoo's_

_4) Her accent was a tragedy_

_5) A tragedy that was not only horribly sounding, but annoying, because Piper liked it_

_6) She liked to steal people's spots and people's girlfriends_

After thinking about these points in her head, she made one final assessment.

She had absolutely nothing to go on. 

But did Piper? Just how much did she know about this mysterious Australian? Not a lot, she was guessing. 

Because the Australian wouldn't want her to know a damned thing if she was planning on leaving Piper behind.

And Alex could count on it.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She walked to therapy, and laughed to herself knowing that the only benefit she would get from it was the exercise from walking there. She was tired of telling people her secrets, she wished she could take them all back. Every last one.

But despite this they kept spilling out of her, and she didn't know how to control it. 

In therapy, however, she was good at keeping her mouth shut. God knows her life was already public enough. 

The session dragged, and it dragged, until one word caught her attention that was ushered out of the woman's lips. _Benefit._  

"Excuse me, could you repeat that?" Alex inquired, interested in what the sentence she had missed entailed. 

"Of course. I asked you if there was anything you require that would benefit you in this difficult time? I understand things aren't easy for you right now, what with coping with what happened in the church that day."

Alex raised an eyebrow in confusion. 

"Benefit me how? Like you're going to sign me up to drama class again so I can watch retards pretend they're the next Sandra Bullock?" Alex was anything but spiteful, she was simply sarcastic, and if she let her guard down in this room for just a moment, she knew she would regret it. 

"No, not like that. I was thinking, a job assignment perhaps? Something a little different? A change of environment might be good for you."

Alex smiled. This was just too perfect. She had this woman wrapped around her finger.

"Well, if you're offering, I'd quite like a job in the sweatshop, making panties. You see, I have friends in there that might really be able to get me through this rough time I've been having. You might know one of them actually, she's Australian."

"Consider it done." 


	27. Twenty Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay folks! My old laptop broke, so I bought a new one, but the new one was faulty, so I had to return it and get a new one! Fun times! Anyway, enjoy!

If there was one thing Stella hated since childhood, it was getting out of bed. She couldn't recall the amount of times that she had been fired from work or had been shouted at in school due to the fact she just could not bring herself to leave her soft mattress.

Today, and every other day in this place, was not like that at all. 

Her mattress, hard as rocks, was not the least bit captivating, and any excuse to get up was good enough. Besides, in this place, there was a schedule. A strict one. Get up bright and early at a time that no man should ever have to witness, get in an ice cold shower, completely naked to the entire prison population, get dressed, go to a breakfast that even Oliver Twist would spit out, and go to work to make panties she debated any woman would actually wear.

Prison was a lot like camp, if camp meant a wet and putrid stink hole with even more putrid people to wash it down with. In fact, come to think of it, the statement still stood. Prison was a lot like camp.

After the daily writings in the book of "I'm Freezing Cold and Naked and Everyone's Seen My Vagina", Stella tugged on her boots, and made her way to the cafeteria where should would eat her gruel of the day, and discuss business with the local 'putrids.'

After all, the pantie business was still thriving, and both Piper and herself were making tonnes of money from this venture. They would be stupid to stop now. Currently, Stella was receiving 30% of the profits, which she considered to be very lucky and also very generous of Piper. When she finally got out of this 'camp' she might be able to afford a place to stay, and it's all thanks to discharge, a job that she actually could sleep on, or sit on, whatever worked best and got the most money.

When work came around, Piper got to making the extra pair of panties. Stella had tried on many occasions to create an extra pair herself, but she was just simply too slow. Piper was often finishing Stella's first pair for her, let alone a second. 

Pipers rule was this, create a quick pair that would benefit the business, second, go about creating a second pair, a pair that would remain in this workshop that would go out into the world and be worn by a teenage girl, an old woman, or some man very comfortable with his body, and third and finally, she would finish Stella's pants so that the Australian could keep her job.

It was a tough day in the life of Piper, but Stella knew she loved it. Loved people depending on her for help, loved people knowing that she was very intellectual and 'top of the class' as it were. If anything, Stella was doing her a favour by keeping her status and pride intact. At least, she told herself that.

Besides, she was wearing the panties, wasn't she? Wasn't that enough? Possibly.

Her thought was halted when a tall figure knocked into her, dropping her fabric on the floor.

"Watch it." Stella remarked, picking up her unfinished panties. 

"Make me." The girl replied, her voice husk, and familiar. 

Stella did not need to look the girl in the face to know who it was. 

"What are you doing here?" It was Piper, who had come to join in on the so far 'pleasant' conversation.

"Well I work here now, I hope that's not going to be a problem for either of the two of you lovebirds." Alex pressed her glasses closer to her face.

"Since when?" Stella asked, forceful, eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Since now." Alex stared the girl down, she was yet to look at Piper.

"Let's just leave it" Piper chimed in.

Stella nodded, and turned around and continued to get back to work.

"Yeah that's it, listen to your keeper. She is your keeper, right? I mean, you'd be a homeless tramp when you get out of here if it wasn't for her. That is, if you are getting out anytime soon, whose to say after someone slipped that cellphone into your bunk." Alex smiled, enjoying every second.

"That's it!" Stella's voice raised, her heartbeat raised even farther as she turned back around punched the girl square in the jaw. Alex went down.

"INMATES, ENOUGH!" A nearby guard grabbed Stella by her arms, and dragged her out of the room.

Alex went next.

The two of them, side by side, made their way down the path outside. And both of them knew where they were going.

"Throw them in solitary." Said the guard.

And off they went.


	28. Twenty Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song listened to whilst writing: Digital Daggers - "Still Here"

Stella stared at the walls. There was nothing else to do after all. She had wondered if Piper had once sat in this room, stared at these walls and felt as lost as she currently felt. She had told herself before that if she was ever here again it would be too soon. And now here she was.

"I bet you're feeling pretty pleased with yourself right about now." Stella muttered, she knew Piper's previous lover could hear her over in her cell.

"Last time I checked I'm not the one that got us in here." Alex replied. Her tone just as bitter as it had been in the workshop.

Stella chuckled to herself. It was not her belief that she was the one responsible for this mess. Alex rattled the cage after all, and she had simply retaliated.

The last time she was here, she could barely cope, but she had Sophia for company, and that had helped. Regardless of that fact, it was still hell. And now? The only company she had was a tall and angry Alex Vause who had a bone to pick with her. Or rather, wanted to pick her bones clean.

If last time was hell, then this time might as well be called the equivalent of sitting on Satan's lap.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Piper couldn't take much more of this. This was prison, and people were always at each others throats, but now, it had landed straight in her backyard and it was her problem to solve, her weeds to pick. Life was so different now, it was almost as if everything was magnified, and each and every scenario looked so much worse up close.

She wouldn't stop eating again, it was childish, she would need to be pragmatic if she was going to overcome this. Alex clearly wasn't over her. She wouldn't have behaved in the way that she did otherwise. Piper hated to admit it, but Alex was a jealous woman. She always had been, she had just simply been discrete.

Everyone knew Piper had always been jealous. But Alex? No one knew just how jealous she could become until they were truly close to her. Had been intimate with her. Loved her.

And if Alex truly loved Piper, she would let her go. Instead? Piper simply felt like territory.

She wondered what Stella was doing right now. Was she giving Alex the silent treatment? Were they at each others throats?

If Alex wanted to keep any of her dignity intact, she would back down now.

Alas, Piper doubted that was the case in solitary.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Alex awoke later that day, unaware of whether it was afternoon or evening. The easiest way to tell was to wait until the meals came. The meals that tasted the equivalent of leftover pickles on a dirty sidewalk.

She cleaned her glasses for the eleventh time that day. There was little else to do after all. Well, she could talk to Stella, but quite frankly eating sidewalk pickles did sound a hell of a lot better than doing so.

It was quiet, which made the silence so much more deafening. A thousand thoughts were drowning themselves in her mind and they all said the same thing in the end. She missed Piper. She loved Piper. Piper was a rude and childish bitch with enough manipulation skills to teach a class, but she loved her, and her imperfections.

And she hated Stella for loving her.

She hated herself for loving her.

It was clear that Piper had moved on. So why couldn't she?

Because there was nothing to move on to.

When you want something, when you want someone, nothing else matters.

No one else matters.

As if on cue, Stella chimed in.

"What you thinking about?" She asked, unusually calm.

"Piper." Alex didn't mean to say the name out loud. It felt wrong of her to do so, but it was too late. Too late for anything now.

"Me too." Stella replied.

"Do you love her?" Alex couldn't stop herself, the words just came out. She was so tired, so overwhelmed in the madness, in the thoughts clouding her judgement.

Stella paused.

"That's a weighted question, Vause."

"It's a weighted question I'm dying to know the answer to, humor me?" Alex had become so desperate.

"Part of me thinks I do. Part of me thinks it's the environment, you know? In different circumstances, who knows, but, I think the answer to your question is yes. I do...I do love her."

Alex was no longer bitter. She understood. She loved the blonde too, loved her deeply. It only made sense that other people would see her greatness too, but they would never see it the way she did.

And for that she was grateful.

"Stella."

The Australian girl paused once again, afraid of what was to come.

"...Yeah?"

"Make her happy."

Stella took a large gulp before uttering the final words exchanged.

"I will, Alex, I will."


	29. Twenty Nine

It was a bleak Tuesday morning, and Piper did the usual. She got up, showered, and proceeded to get dressed before making her way to breakfast. She sat alone, her choice, no one else's. The majority of days were the same. What was there to talk about, after all? The latest prison gossip, that which she wasn't interested in, who was banging who, that which she wasn't interested in, who was going to get knifed in the stomach today, again, that which she wasn't interested in.

Because there was a time when that subject came up and the answer was Alex. And she hadn't been there for her. She rarely was. And there was little excuse beside the fact that she simply couldn't cope or handle the problems of others. Even the ones she loved.

When times got tough, Piper stepped away. And when things went back to normal, she was there to claim her place after the pieces had already been picked up by someone else.

She was manipulative, and this little factor she knew. She knew a lot about herself even when people thought she didn't.

The blonde knew when she was in the wrong, she just didn't like to admit it.

For she was always in the spotlight when it came to the right answers, and if she didn't have them, she would simply pretend that she did. Because people had expected such things from her.

And now, when the two people she cared about were side by side, wall to wall, in a dank and dirty cell, she knew she didn't have the right answers, and she would never admit it out loud. 

So she would sit alone, and when people asked her how she felt, she would simply respond with 

"I feel just fine."

Because people had expected such things from her.

And no one had to know just how hollow she felt. 

No one had to know that she was rarely ever correct. They just had to believe that she was.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stella awoke to a dull throb in her head. She grasped her temple with her fingers and proceeded to push her fingers into her eyes.

A nasty habit, her mother had told her. If only she knew just how many nasty habits the girl had picked up over her years.

And she was almost guaranteed to pick up some more in this place.

Because you didn't just exist in this place, you had to find ways to live, ways to survive. 

And she had spent her entire life merely existing, never truly living. And she told herself that when she finally left this place, she would start living. Because existing simply wasn't enough.

She judged by the time breakfast came that it was time for workshop, though of course, she wasn't going anywhere.

Instead of a blonde for company, she had an Alex. 

Though she had to admit, the two of them were on good terms currently. There was a time when speaking to her was a chore of the worst kind, and now? It was almost a crutch, a way of coping. 

Granted, they only had one thing in common, and that thing was Piper. 

Beside that, they were two completely separate vessels with little to bring them closer together beside the situation they had both found themselves in.

And maybe that was enough.

Maybe.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Piper sat making panties. Or rather, one single pair of panties. With Stella gone, it hardly seemed appropriate any more to make two. Or to make Stella's for her. Because Stella wasn't here.

And Piper didn't have the right answers.

The work was shoddy, poor, but she was hoping it was enough. Enough for no one to ask questions, or worse, enough for no one to ask her to repeat the process again, and to stop wasting fabric.

The situation was dire, but she knew it could be worse.

She could be rotting away in the dark with Stella and Alex.

There had been days she had told herself it was a good idea to get herself thrown down there with them. 

Part of her decided against it because it wouldn't help the situation in the slightest.

And the other part of her, the much larger part, decided against it because she simply couldn't face such torture again.

She was a coward.

And there was nothing she could do. 

So she wouldn't.

She would simply sit, and wait. 

She would make panties as they chipped pieces of their brains away. Praying to someone, anyone, that they would survive the hell that she knew oh so well.

And she could guarantee that they didn't have the answers either.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with B" Alex said.

"Bed." Stella replied.

"Your turn, Stella." The girl pressed her glasses to her face.

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with W." Stella responded.

"That's a tough one that is, but I think I'm going to have to go with wall." Alex replied, sarcastically.

"This game blows, care to.."

Stella was interrupted.

"Inmate, move it, you're coming with me." It was coming from the cell next to her. Alex's cell.

"Tell me where I'm going first I'd lik...."

"Am I going to have to tell you again? I said move it, now!" 

Stella could only barely make out what was happening, though she knew Alex was clearly co-operating, because one minute, there was noise, clanging, the next, silence.

And just like that, her crutch was gone.

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with A." Stella said aloud to herself.

"Alone." She whispered, as she stared at the walls, and stared, and stared, and stared.

This game blows.

 

 


End file.
